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OUT OF 
THEIR OWN MOUTHS 



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OUT OF 
THEIR OWN MOUTHS 



UTTERANCES OF GERMAN RULERS, 
STATESMEN, SAVANTS, PUBLICISTS, 
JOURNALISTS, POETS, BUSINESS MEN. 
PARTY LEADERS AND 50LDIERS 




/ begin by taking; later I shall find pedants 
to show ibat / was quite within my rights* 

FREDERIC II OF PRUSSIA. 



D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

NEW YORK LONDON 

1917 



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Copyright, 1917, by 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 



SEP 2S 1917 

Printed in the United States of America 

©!1A476268 



f 



The war was begun by the military masters of Ger- * 
many. . . » Their purpose has long been avowed. The 
statesmen of other nations, to whom that purpose was 
incredible, paid little attention; regarded what German 
professors expounded in their classrooms and German 
writers set forth to the world as the goal of German 
policy as rather the dream of minds detached from prac- 
tical affairs, as preposterous private conceptions of Ger- 
man destiny, than as the actual plans of responsible rul- 
ers; but the riders of Germany themselves knew all the 
zvhile what concrete plans, what well advanced intrigues 
lay back of what the professors and the writers were say- 
ing, and were glad to go forward unmolested. . . . 

President Wilson, Flag-Day Address, 
June 14, 1917. 



PUBLISHERS' PREFACE 

With few exceptions, the extracts included in this 
collection are taken directly from the German. Where 
standard English translations are cited, the passages 
selected have been compared with the original texts and, 
in some instances, the wording has been changed for the 
sake of greater fidelity. 

The arrangement is based, in the main, on that of a 
similar but much smaller French compilation, "J^S^s par 
eux-memes" (Paris, Berger-Levrault, 1916; xii, 102 pp.); 
and this has been found useful also in drawing attention 
to some of the less known German books and pamphlets 
published before the German World War. The scope of 
the present collection is, however, much broader. The 
French pamphlet, for example, has no such chapter head- 
ings as "Utterances of Captains of Industry and Com- 
merce" (chapter vi), "Utterances of Party Leaders" 
(chapter vii), "Utterances Regarding America" (chap- 
ter x), or "Reactions and Protests" (chapter xi). Of the 
material presented in "Juges par eux-memes" little direct 
use has been made. In a few cases in which the Ger- 
man texts cited are not at present accessible in New 
York, passages have been translated from the French 
text. In every such case the source is indicated. 

Much valuable material has been drawn from a recent 
Swiss compilation by S. Grumbach, "Das annexion- 
istische Deutschland: Fine Sammlung von Dokumenten 
die seit dem 4 August 1914 in Deutschland offentlich 
Oder geheim verbreitet wurden" (Payot & Co., Lausanne, 
1917; X, 471 pp.). Of the annexationist utterances 

vii 



PUBLISHER'S PREFACE 

since the outbreak of the War that are cited in the 
present collection, nearly all are directly extracted from, 
or have been verified by comparison with, the texts given 
by Mr. Grumbach. This acknowledgment covers in par- 
ticular the second section of chapter iii, the third section 
of chapter iv, and chapters vi and vii. Similar acknowl- 
edgment is due as regards the anti-annexationist utter- 
ances cited in chapter xi. This general statement must 
take the place of specific references to Mr. Grumbach's 
valuable compilation, except where use has been made 
of liis explanatory notes. In such cases specific refer- 
ences are given. 

Since the Russian Revolution, and in consequence of 
the peace program favored by Socialist groups in many 
countries— groups which seem to be especially influential 
in the new Russia — ^the question of "annexations and 
indemnities" (more properly the question of conquests 
and of spoliations) has assumed increasing prominence. 
Evidence of widespread German lust for loot, movable 
and immovable, and for monetary ransom, such as will 
be found abundantly in the present collection, is, there- 
fore, particularly valuable and timely. The protests 
cited in chapter xi are also of interest, and for several 
reasons: first, because they give comforting assurance 
that even in the Germany of today there is a decent, 
sane and — let us hope — saving "remnant"; next, because 
nearly all the Germans who protest against German 
megalomania and greed emphasize the general prevalence 
of the notions and desires which they combat; last, be- 
cause the governmental efforts to suppress these pro- 
tests indicate more clearly than any direct utterances of 
rulers or of statesmen what is the real attitude of Im- 
perial Germany. 

A study of this annexationist and anti-annexationist 
literature will show also what value is to be attached 
to recent German official disclaimers of desire to make 

viii 



PUBLISHER'S PREFACE 

"annexations," The "guaranties and securities" which 
the German Imperial Government, supported by a domi- 
nant public opinion, still demands represent elastic claims 
concealed under a phrase that is equally attractive and 
vague. This phrase has been used from the beginning of 
the War as a euphemism for annexations. Rightly inter- 
preted, it has satisfied even the Pan-Germanist. The 
reader of the present collection will find that the military 
and economic security of the German Empire requires 
German control of Belgium and of the northern coast of 
France as far as Boulogne. It requires also the annexa- 
tion of a broad strip of eastern France, including the 
iron ore beds west of Metz, and the fortresses of Verdun 
and Belfort. According to some writers — and these no 
obscure fanatics — it requires the annexation of Toulon 
and the suppression of the French war navy. In the 
East military and economic security requires the an- 
nexation of even greater stretches of Russian territory. 
The military and economic security of Germany demands 
similar security for Austria and for Turkey, and an 
equally thorough reconstruction of the map of southeast- 
ern Europe and of southwestern Asia. The political se- 
curity of Germany requires that the millions of Slavs, 
Belgians and Frenchmen who are to be forced under 
German rule shall have no influence upon the destinies of 
the German Empire. They are to be second-class Ger- 
mans — subjects, not citizens of the Empire. Finally, eco- 
nomic security for Germany, in the judgment of captains 
of industry and commerce and of professors of political 
economy, demands not only political control of wide dis- 
tricts in the West and in the East, but also the expropria- 
tion and deportation of Belgian, French and Russian 
landholders, and particularly the transfer of mines and of 
industrial plants "from hostile to German hands." This, 
as is said in the sane and forcible protest of the Ger- 
man "New Fatherland Alliance" (see pages 228-233) is 

ix 



PUBLISHER'S PREFACE 

a program for which no European precedent can be 
found since the migrations of the nations in the fifth 
and following centuries, when the Teutonic hordes first 
overran the civilized world. These are the demands- 
not of unknown paranoiacs but of some three hundred 
and fifty professors, supported by a thousand other "in- 
tellectuals" (see pp. 60-65) and of six of the most im- 
portant industrial associations in the German Empire 
(see pp. 123-125). 

These are the implications of the German Emperor's, 
"guaranties and securities" (see p. 6). 



INTRODUCTION 



Those who are not with us are against us. Never be- 
fore in human history has the choice of Man and Nation 
been as sharply defined as it is today. The future of 
mankind depends upon this choice. There have been 
earlier crises out of which human fate proceeded in new 
directions; but the contestants in those conflicts under- 
stood only obscurely, if at all, the ultimate stakes for 
which they were fighting. We can plead no such igno- 
rance. We know the issue, and whither it leads. 

Those who are not with us are against us. On which 
side do we stand? As Americans, we assume that we 
stand for Civilization. That is our inheritance. What 
do we mean by Civilization? Surely not mere comforts, 
astonishing improvements in invention, or even the great 
discoveries of science which affect only the body and 
not the soul of man. We mean the recognition of Jus- 
tice, a keener sensitiveness to Mercy, an undying devotion 
to Liberty, a quickened conscience which makes us shrink 
from doing unto anyone that which we should not wish 
him to do to us. These are the ideals of Civilization and 
this is the spirit in which alone it can flourish. Erudition, 
though its books were piled higher than the Tower of 
Babel, does not constitute it; nor does ability to make 
great cannon, or chemicals, or military engines; much 
less is the proof of Civilization to be found in the power 
to convert millions of men into mere machines, unfree, 
shorn of humanizing emotions, abjectly obedient to the 
will, however wicked, of the despot who owns them. 

xi 



INTRODUCTION 

If at the beginning of the Atrocious War, Civilization 
and Barbarism had stood embodied in forms revealing 
the very nature of each, there can be no doubt as to 
v^rhich we would have chosen. But the majority of man- 
kind lack imagination — that quality which penetrates to 
the heart and essence; the majority live only on the sur- 
face, a life of two dimensions, without depth. And in 
this case many influences worked deliberately to blur or 
hide the nature of the antagonists. The Prussian agents 
over here and our native apologists for Prussia were 
greatly helped by the fact that, as a people, we are not 
cruel and that we do not lie. The average American 
had never dreamed that creatures wearing the shape of 
men could conceive, much less commit, such horrors and 
bestialities as were devised in cold blood by the Ger- 
man General Staff. So our people heard with mingled 
shock and incredulity the first accounts of Hunnish 
atrocities. It took a long time and repeated abominations 
before we came to believe the truth. 

Meanwhile the German propagandists increased doubt 
here by brazenly declaring that the stories of atrocities 
were concocted by their enemies; and when this impu- 
dence began to fail them they proclaimed that, "After 
all, war is war" ; and they ransacked history for instances 
of cruelty perpetrated by other races, including ourselves, 
in earlier times. In mendacity, too, they found us as 
easy to deceive as children are by a juggler's tricks. 

Little by little, however, the evidence that the German 
policy of atrocity was premeditated became too strong to 
be refuted even by their sly disavowals. We were forced 
to realize that the slaying of innocent civilians, the rav- 
ishing of women, the burning of towns, the bombard- 
ing of libraries and cathedrals, the wholesale massacres, 
the starving, enslaving and exile of entire populations 
were not due to such outbursts of bloody passions as some- 
times blacken warfare in civilized countries, but were 



INTRODUCTION 

deliberately ordered and carried out with all the boasted 
thoroughness of the German General Staff. And as this 
awful revelation of fiendishness broke upon us, we began 
to perceive that it was only a part, the necessary product, 
of a system for conquering the world and reducing it 
to slavish submission to the House of Hohenzollern. 



II 

The book which follows gives the best possible state- 
ment of the principles by which Prussian monarchs and 
ministers were governed, of the World Empire which 
they hoped to establish, and of the means by which they 
expected to destroy Civilization and to set up in its place 
the Dominion of the Hun. Observe that these statements 
do not come from me or from any other partisan of 
Civilization, but from the Germans themselves. Truth is 
revealed not only in wine, but in those expressions which 
we make unconsciously, — in grief, in anger, in exultation. 
So when you find, in the passages which follow, the 
writer exulting over a policy which seems to you to be 
damnable, you can be sure that he is wearing no mask. 
The same is true when he lays before you, and gloats 
over it, a scheme of perfidy; or when he exposes, quite 
naively, his unbounded self-conceit and the vast propor- 
tions of the national swelled head, for which not merely 
Germany but Europe was too small, and only the world 
could suffice. 

Considering the mass of testimony which had been ac- 
cumulating during the twenty-five years between the ac- 
cession of William II and his launching of war in 1914, 
considering also how openly the Germans talked of their 
"Destiny," their superiority, their fitness to rule the 
world, it is surprising how blind other nations and we 
were. We wrapped ourselves in incredulity. We took 
complacent ease in the thought that the day of Napoleon 



INTRODUCTION 

and Caesars had passed; that the world was too civilized 
to indulge in great wars of conquest; that commerce 
and banking and Socialist interactions, not to mention the 
unprecedented growth in humane standards had created 
an interdependence which would make war, not merely 
improbable, but unthinkable. We saw, indeed, that Wil- 
liam II was neither a Napoleon nor a Caesar; but we did 
not sufficiently allow for the effect of the inordinate 
ambition and monstrous vanity of even a neurotic mon- 
arch working upon a people like the German. The size 
of the fetish never measures the strength of the tribe 
that worships it. 

The War for World Power was no sudden conception ; 
but only after the victories of Prussia fifty years ago did 
it become the definite aim of the military Junker ring. 
Having beaten Austria, Prussia dominated the German 
States, whether they would or no; and by defeating 
France, she united Germany as an Empire in which she 
was dominant. During the next twenty years, Bismarck, 
the real ruler of Germany, dismissed the propagandists of 
Pan-Germanism as half-baked theorists. He declared 
that Germany was "a satisfied nation." He planned to. 
keep Germany at the head of Europe, but not to destroy 
France, England or Italy, nor to cripple Russia. He 
took little interest in colonies, nor does he seem to have 
been humbugged by the plea that Germany must go to 
war in order to win a place in the sun. He knew that 
Germans had migrated to all parts of the earth, and that 
in each place they were prospering by their thrift and 
industry, 

William II became Kaiser on June 15, 1888, and he 
soon let the world know that he regarded himself as a 
bigger man than Old Bismarck. Having dropped Bis- 
marck, he chose as advisers mediocre men — bureaucrats, 
militarists. Junkers, who, with captains of industry, 
shaped the policy of the country and completed the 

xiv 



INTRODUCTION 

Prussianization of the non-Prussian Germans. Spurred 
on one side by an unscrupulous and a merciless Militarist 
caste and on the other by an equally unscrupulous and 
merciless Capitalist class — there have been no modern 
money-hunters like the Germans — German international 
policy took the road desired by the Army and by the 
Capitalists. Both classes flattered the Kaiser into sup- 
posing that he originated their policies, and that these 
were essential to the welfare of Germany — an easy task, 
for he was a megalomaniac of colossal proportions. 

About 1895 the dream of World Dominion solidified 
into something more than a dream. Officials of the 
Army, Navy and State Departments began to formulate 
the steps required to attain it. France and Russia — the 
competing Land Powers — could easily be smashed; but 
England, whose Empire stretched round the earth, could 
be reached and overcome only on the sea. So Germany 
started to build a great Navy, and the Naval officers at 
their mess drank regularly their toast ''Auf den Tag'' — 
"To the Day" when they should be strong enough to meet 
the hated English, but for whom the Germans pleasantly 
assumed they would already be supreme. Now Pan- 
Germanists, official and unofficial, raised their paean to 
the superiority of the Germanic race. Historians ex- 
pounded the manifest destiny reserved for them. Parsons 
bade them heed the word of God and slay the degenerate 
peoples. A mad philosopher glorified the Superman — a 
creature whom they at once assumed was German. Men 
of science found a warrant in biology for the destruction 
of the weak by the strong. The Kaiser himself spoke 
freely of his partnership with "der alte Gott" — a connec- 
tion which of course sealed with sanctity the Imperial 
utterances and designs. 

Everything being ready, and the enemies of Germany 
being reported by the Kaiser's spies as too unprepared 
to fight, the Prussian Military Ring forced the War. 

XV 



INTRODUCTION 



III 



When you read the testimony which follows, therefore, 
you will understand that the War was the culmination 
of plans extending over a quarter of a century — more 
than that, that it sprang from the Prussian nature, which 
had proclaimed for a hundred years that war is the nor- 
mal state of nations. You will see that the horrors, the 
hideous cruelties, the diabolical devastation, were not ex- 
ceptional crimes, but carefully worked out parts of the 
Prussian military system in action. 

There is a beast in every man. Prussian war experts 
long ago made it their duty to unchain this beast and 
to give it free play during war. They discovered how 
to excite its fury, and how to train that fury so that it 
should be damnably efficient. How well they have suc- 
ceeded Belgium can tell, and Serbia and Poland and Ar- 
menia, whose two million and a half of dead were victims 
of massacre arranged by Prussians and carried out by 
Turks. The sinking of the Lusitania, and of hundreds of 
other merchant ships — not enemy ships only but also 
neutral ships — the execution of Edith Cavell and of Cap- 
tain Fryatt, the slaughter of hostages, the outrages on 
women and girls of all ages, the deportations, the starv- 
ing of foreign civilians in prison pens, the sinking of 
hospital ships, the poisoning of wells, the shooting of 
Red Cross ambulance drivers and nurses — ^these are all 
deliberate manifestations of the Satanic system of Cruelty 
which the Prussians long ago adopted as the guiding prin- 
ciple of their war-making. 

Cruelty has been an attribute of the Germans since 
earliest times. The Goths and Vandals and their kin- 
dred barbarians practiced it as a matter of course. The 
Huns — the spiritual ancestors of the Prussians — raised 
it to such a bad eminence that for fourteen centuries 
they stood unchallenged as foremost in cruelty. 



INTRODUCTION 

The second pillar of the Prussian system is Mendacity. 
' Frederick the Great gloried in his use of it; what he 
wrote about it might form a Manual of Treachery. Bis- 
marck was an expert in it. What can be expected of a 
nation whose national heroes are Frederick, who held no 
oath sacred, and Bismarck, who doctored the Ems dis- 
patch? Mendacity, as practiced by the Prussians, in- 
I eludes hypocrisy, downright lies, treachery, and the de- 
' basing spy-system which has been employed since 1914 to 
undermine the United States. Deceit belongs properly 
to the savage, and we need not wonder, therefore, that 
it has been made a specialty by the modern Barbarians. 
President Wilson, whose opportunities for knowing de- 
tails have, of course, surpassed those of any other Amer- 
ican individual, has carefully distinguished between the 
German people and the German Imperial Government. 
With that clue we can, in all this terrible affair, assign 
responsibility for the wicked plans and their carrying 
out. 

What I may call official German collective mendacity 
has reached its climax since 1896, when the Germans 
began secretly to plant colonies abroad; taking care that 
the new immigrants should go to strengthen German in- 
fluence in chosen countries, and that the earlier settlers 
should be won back by blandishments and bribes of alle- 
giance to German Imperialism. This was Prince Billow's 
way of "redeeming" German emigrants. No American, 
with our experience of the past three years before him, 
needs to be told the abominable methods employed or 
the results achieved. 

Cruelty and Mendacity! These two words sum up 
military Prussianism. Humanity means the victory of 
human qualities and ideals over those of the beast. Prus- 
sianism, in exalting Cruelty, denies Humanity and volun- 
tarily accepts the standards of the Beast. So Prussianism 
is an outlaw from Humanity. In like fashion, by practic- 

xvii 



INTRODUCTION 

ing and glorifying Mendacity, Prussianism denies the 
primal trust of man in man, of tribe in tribe, which is 
the cornerstone of Civilization. Prussianism flouts the 
sanctity of treaties, and laughs at all other obligations 
which might check or hamper it ; and thereby it denies in- 
ternational faith, and makes itself an outlaw from Civili- 
zation. 

You who read this confession of such ideals, you who 
remember how ruthlessly they have been put into practice, 
cannot plead ignorance in making your decisions between 
Civilization and Prussianism. You are American; can 
you picture Washington or Lincoln as supporting any of 
these devilish doctrines? You are American, and in the 
light of what the Teutons have done and still hope to 
do, you cannot doubt that if they got a foothold here they 
would shoot down you and your friends as hostages, 
destroy your home and your town, outrage your wife and 
daughters, devastate the country, and try to terrorize it 
into submission. They would have no more respect for 
Americans than they have had for Belgians or for 
French. Like the wolves and the hyenas they do these 
things because it is their nature to do them. Do not 
allow any specious argument to lure you to the side of 
the wolf and the hyena. 

Those who are not with us are against us. 

William Roscoe Thayer. 

Cambridge, 
July 14, igiy. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

UTTERANCES OF RULERS 

Political Philosophy of Frederic II (p. i). Justifi- 
cation of the Silesian War. "Scraps of pa- 
per." The word of an Emperor (p. 2). In- 
struments of Providence. The sole pillar of the 
realm (p. 3). Imperial menaces (p. 4). Ger- 
many's destiny as a World Power (p. 5). De- 
mands for annexations (p. 6). 

CHAPTER II 

UTTERANCES OF GERMAN MINISTERS 
AND CHANCELLORS 

I. FROM BISMARCK TO BETHMANN-HOLLWEG 

"Blood and iron." The "Editing" of the Ems Dis- 
patch (p. 8). Why Paris should not be de- 
stroyed. Countess Bismarck's hatred of the 
French' (p. 14). Bismarck's regrets. A prom- 
ise, a threat and a prophecy (p. 15). Value to 
Germany of the neutralization of Luxemburg 
and of Belgium (p. 16). Cutting off sea trade 
lawful warfare. Concerning the Polish expro- 
priation laws (p. 17). The invasion of Bel- 



CONTENTS 

gium a "wrong." Germany had no grievance 
against Belgium (p. i8). "Strategical rea- 
sons" versus "scraps of paper" (p. 19). A re- 
traction retracted (p. 21). Threats of annexa- 
tion (p. 22). 

II. Bismarck's unheeded warnings 

Against German Jingoes (p. 25), Against support- 
ing Austria's Eastern ambitions (p. 2.(i). 
Against war with Russia. Against attacking 
France (p. 27). Against making war in an- 
ticipation of war (p. 28). Against military 
domination and personal autocracy (p. 31). 



CHAPTER III 

UTTERANCES OF PHILOSOPHERS, HISTORIANS 
AND MEN OF SCIENCE 

I. BEFORE THE OUTBREAK OF THE WORLD WAR 

Nature demands discord (p. 33). German and 
French traits (p. 34). The philosophy of war 
(p- 35)- "Dictates of prudence" (p. 37). In- 
tervention. Treaties (p. 38). Little States 
and weak peoples (p. 39). "Culture" versus 
civilization. The State is power (p. 41). Ab- 
surdity of little States. Destiny of little States 
(p. 42). Prussia and Germany. Political mo- 
rality (p. 43). Value of treaties (p. 44). Ne- 
cessity and sublimity of war (p. 45). Im- 
portance of an "irritable sense of honor." 
World power (p. 46). Confessions (p. 47). 
Warnings? (p. 48). 



CONTENTS 



II. SINCE THE OUTBREAK OF THE WORLD WAR 

war of anticipation. Stepping-stones to world 
power (p. 48). A pax Germcmica (p. 51). 
Cultured correspondence (p. 52). German 
plans and "atavistic instincts" (p. 54). Europe 
under German hegemony (p. 55). Aggressive 
Belgium (p. 56). German historical claims 
in the Netherlands. A lawyer's brief for Ger- 
many against Belgium (p. 57). The duties of 
the chosen people (p. 59). Annexationist pe- 
tition of 352 professors (p. 60). A "decent 
form of death" for Belgium. Land wanted for 
200,000,000 Germans. What Germans need 
"belongs" to them (p. 66). "No annexations, 
no indemnities" means Germany's defeat. Gov- 
ernment of new "outer territories" (p. 6y). A 
pastor on the sinking of the Lusitania. Profes- 
sorial f rightfulness (p. 68). 



CHAPTER IV 

UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS, MEN OF 
LETTERS AND JOURNALISTS 

I, BEFORE THE WORLD WAR 

Superiority and mission of the Teutons (p. 69). 
Especial superiority of the Germans (p. 71). 
Plans of expansion in Europe (p. 72). Phi- 
losophy of expansion (p. 74). Christ and Dar- 
win (p. 75). "Precautionary war." Forecasts 
of the German World War (p. 76). Schemes 
of World Empire (p. 78). 
xxi 



CONTENTS 

II. WHEN WAR WAS IN SIGHT 

"A golden Teutonic opportunity" (p. 79). A war of 
expansion. Who willed the war? The antici- 
pated fruits of victory (p. 81). 

III. SINCE THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 

Germany's right and Germany's aims (p. 83). Ger- 
many willed the war (p. 85). Germans "no 
persecuted innocents" (p. 86). "The will ta 
power." "A Holy German Empire" (p. 87). 
"Kultur." Retaliatory lying. Spirit and form 
of German Imperialism (p. 88). Germany's 
peculiar qualification for World Power (p. 90). 
The French and the English (p. 91). German 
must become the language of the world. How 
new territories may be Germanized (p. 92). 
Moral and immoral policies of power. Im- 
perialism and Socialism (p. 93). Chancellor 
Bethmann-HoUweg interpreted (p. 94). Dr. 
Dernburg disavowed (p. 95). Frederic's "pe- 
dants" at work (p. 96). Germany's "needs" in 
Europe summarized (p. 97). Either ransom 
or loot. Loot already under cover (p. 98). 
The tender mercies of terrorism (p. 99). "Bel- 
gium does not exist." Germany must keep her 
soldiers' graves (p. 100). Germany needs Rus- 
sian soil (p. loi). German military colonies. 
Proposed frontiers of "Middle Europe" (p. 
102). Organization of "Middle Europe" (p. 
105). Outlines of the German World Empire 
(p. 106). Germany's African Empire (p. 107). 
German aims in China (p. 109). The Achilles' 
heel of the British Empire (p. no). The 
taking of London (p. 112). How Germany will 
xxii 



CONTENTS 

negotiate peace. The severest of Germany's 
terms (p. 113). 



CHAPTER V 

UTTERANCES OF POETS 

The Germans. The Prussians (p. 114). A proph- 
ecy fulfilled. A prophecy not yet fulfilled. 
Vierordt's song of hate (p. 115). The poet's 
reply to a Swiss critic (p. 117). Lissauer's 
song of hate (p. 119). Song of the German 
sword (p. 121). 



CHAPTER VI 

UTTERANCES OF CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY 
AND COMMERCE AND OF ECONOMISTS 

Annexationist memorial of six great industrial asso- 
ciations (p. 123). Chambers of Commerce for 
annexations. Annexationist desires of iron and 
steel manufacturers (p. 126). Rhenish manu- 
facturers and landowners want Belgium. 
Chemnitz Unions demand annexations 
(p. 127). World plans of a Saxon manufac- 
turer (p. 128). Calais as a center of the Ger- 
man lace industry. Exploitation of the new 
"Duchy of Belgium" (p. 129). "Raw mate- 
rials for war industry" (p. 131). The cure 
for "land shortage" (p. 133). "Pressure to the 
Ocean." Naval bases (p. 134). A German 
settlement in South China (p. 136). 
xxiii 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VII 
UTTERANCES OF PARTY LEADERS 

I. PARTY DECLARATIONS 

Annexationist utterances of party committees (p. 
138). Joint declaration favoring annexations 
(p. 140). 

II. UTTERANCES OF SINGLE LEADERS 

■"'Mistakes need not be repeated" (p. 140). "Ger- 
man blood manure" not to be wasted. Why 
Belgians should desire German protection. 
Territorial indemnities. No plebiscites 
(p. 141). What territories Russia must cede 
(p. 142). Channel ports required. Annexa- 
tions West and East (p. 143)- A misinter- 
preted Imperial utterance (p. 144). A German 
protectorate of Belgium. The correct idea of 
"a lasting peace" (p. 145). A peace "made in 
Germany." "The line of the Naref" (p. 146). 
The German nation's divinely appointed goal. 
Strategic demands. "Ideals kindle no enthusi- 
asm" (p. 147). Practical uses of history. Beth- 
mann-Hollweg's implications (p. 148). Land- 
mark^ must be removed (p. 149)- 

CHAPTER VIII 
UTTERANCES OF MILITARY WRITERS 

I. GLORIFICATION OF WAR 

*'A radiant crown." War instituted by God (p. 150). 
The army the basis of civilization. Biology, 
xxiv 



CONTENTS 

civilization, idealism and Christianity demand 
war (p. 151). The diffusion of ''culture" by 
war (p. 152). 

II. WAR, LAW AND HUMANITY 

Laws of war "hardly worth mentioning*' (p. 153). 
"A spirit of benevolence" dangerous. Errors 
of the seventeenth century (p. 154). Reversion 
of war toward *4ts absolute perfection." 
Military necessity versus the laws of war 
(p- 155)* War must be conducted much more 
ruthlessly (p. 157). A wide field for "arbi- 
trary judgment" (p. 158). "Grow hard, war- 
riors!" Application of the Theory (p. 159). 

III. CONDUCT OF WAR 

Right and duty of aggression (p. 160). Objects of 
invasion (p. 161). Terrorizing occupied terri- 
tories (p. 162). Living on the country (p. 
163). Military requisitions: theory versus 
practice (p. 164). Drastic methods of obtain- 
ing services (p. 165). Civilian "hostages" (p. 
166). Devastation of abandoned enemy terri- 
tory (p. 167). 

IV. WAR FOR CONQUEST 

Justification of conquest. "World power or down- 
fall" (p. 168). Need of strengthening Ger- 
many's European position (p. 169). "France 
must be crushed." A Colonial Empire (p. 170). 
Two Teutonic Empires. Annexations in the 
West (p. 171). Annexations in the East (p. 
172). Transfer of populations (p. 173). Mili- 
tarist propaganda for annexations, 1917 (p. 
174). 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER IX 

UTTERANCES OF COMMANDERS AND 
SOLDIERS IN THE FIELD 

I. MILITARY PROCLAMATIONS 

Terrorism by indiscriminate punishment (p. 176). 
Constructive "espionage" (p. 178). Collection 
of contributions and indemnities (p. 180). 
Maintaining "tranquillity." Hostages (p. 181). 
Instruction in deportment. Deportation or- 
ders (p. 184). Order to kill prisoners (p. 1S6). 

II. soldiers' diaries and letters 

Slaughterings and burnings (p. 187). Civilians as- 
fire screens (p. 190). "A day of honor for 
our regiment" (p. 191). "Something in v^hat is 
said about German barbarians." More slaugh- 
terings and burnings (p. 193). No quarter to 
Turcos nor to English (p. 194). Orders to kill 
grounded enemies. Priests and women (p. 
195). Devastation (p. 196). 

CHAPTER X 
UTTERANCES REGARDING AMERICA 

I. latin AMERICA 

German emigrants and German exports (p. 197). 
How to extend German influence in Brazil 
.,{p. 200). German penetration of Rio Grande 
do Sul. German culture in Latin America (p. 
201). Bright German spots in a dark picture 
(p. 203). German rule will be a blessing. Ini- 
xxvi 



CONTENTS 

dal control through treaties (p. 204). Map of 
Latin America, 1950 (p. 205). Teutonization 
of Latin America. Germans take the Monroe 
Doctrine too seriously (p. 206). A disclaimer 
and a confession. Hopes deferred, not aban- 
doned (p. 207). 

II. THE UNITED STATES 

The outlook for American civilization (p. 208). 
Irish rabbits. Lost Germans (p. 209). Uses 
of the German and Irish elements. A plan 
to invade the United States (p. 210). A claim 
for indemnity (p. 215). Proposed coalition 
against the United States (p. 216). 



CHAPTER XI 
REACTIONS AND PROTESTS 

I. SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PROTESTS AND WARNINGS* 

Danger in victory. "This is not a defensive war" 
(p. 218). A war for world dominion. "An 
imperialistic war of conquest" (p. 220). Obli- 
gations of honor as regards Belgium (p. 221). 
Protest against the annexationist propaganda 
(p. 222). Annexationist agitation officially 
promoted (p. 223). The Chancellor's military 
aims (p. 224). "A gang of robbers" (p. 225). 
Why Socialist journals rarely protest (p. 226). 

II. PROTESTS OF ASSOCIATIONS 

Petition of the "New Fatherland Alliance" (p. 227)'. 
Protest of the German Peace Society (p. 232). 
xxvii 



CONTENTS 

III. INDIVIDUAL PROTESTS AND REACTIONS 

Imperialism akin to megalomania (p. 233). Pan- 
Germanist responsibility (p. 235). Germany's 
future (p. 236). Germany must not follow the 
Napoleonic road (p. 237). Annexations would 
ruin the nation (p. 238). The indictment 
against Germany (p. 239). Responsibility of 
the German Government (p. 241). Testimony 
in favor of the Belgians (p. 242). A discour- 
aged Dernburg (p. 243). "A softened Harden" 
(p. 244). Germany an obstacle to freedom 
(P- 245). 



APPENDIX 
"SCRAPS OF PAPER" 

I. TREATIES BETWEEN PRUSSIA AND THE UNITED 
STATES 

Treaty of 1785. Treaty of 1799 (p. 247). 
Treaty of 1828 (p. 248). 

II. TREATIES NEUTRALIZING BELGIUM AND LUXEM^ 
BURG 

Treaty of London, November 15, 1831. Treaty 
of London, May 11, 1867 (p- 249)- 

III. CONVENTIONS RESPECTING WAR ON LAND 

The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 (p. 
250). Regulations respecting the Laws and 
Customs of War on Land (p. 251). 



OUT OF 
THEIR OWN MOUTHS 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

CHAPTER I 
UTTERANCES OF RULERS 

Political philosophy of Frederic II 

If there is anything to be gained by it, we will be 
honest; if deception is necessary, let us be cheats. 
Frederic II, Letter to Minister Radziwill. 

Do not be ashamed to make alliances with a view 
to gaining advantage from them for yourself only. 

Do not commit the gross blunder of not aban- 
doning them when it suits your interest. 

One takes when one can, and one is wrong only 
when obliged to give back. 

I understand by the word "policy" that one must 
make it his study to deceive others ; that is the 
way to get the better of them. 

Works of Frederic II. Berlin edition (1848). 

No ministers at home, but clerks. No ministers 
abroad, but spies. 

Form alliances only in order to sow animosities. 
Kindle and prolong war between my neighbors. 
Always promise help and never send it. 
I 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

There is only one person in the kingdom, that 
is myself. 

Marginal notes in a copy of Tacitus, written by the 
King and cited by Diderot. 

Justification of the Silesian War 

The matter of right is the business of the min- 
isters, it is your business. It is time to work it 
up in secret, for the troops have received their 
orders. 

Frederic II, to Minister Radziwill, November 7, 1740. 

"Scraps of paper" 

All written constitutions are only scraps of 
paper. 

Frederic William IV, Speech from the Throne, April 
II, 1847. 

The V70rd of an Emperor 

In October, 191 1, Emperor Wilhelm II conversed with 
the Belgian General Heimburger and with M. Delvaux 
de Fenffe, the governor of the province of Liege, who 
came to greet him on behalf of the King of the Belgians. 
He said to M. Delvaux: 

You are the governor of a province with which 
we have always maintained good neighborly rela- 
tions. Recently, I understand, you have felt in 
your country serious apprehensions. Believe me, 
these apprehensions were unnecessary. 

At the luncheon that followed, the Emperor, answer- 
ing General Heimburger, said: 

You were quite right to trust us. 
2 



UTTERANCES OF RULERS 

Instruments of Providence 

Providence has willed that we should be his 
instruments. 

WilHam I, Speech, March 3, 1871. 

We shall conquer everywhere, even though we 
be surrounded by enemies on all sides; for there 
lives a powerful ally, the old good God in heaven, 
who . . . has always been on our side. 

William II, Speech, March 28, 1901. 

Here [in Konigsberg] my grandfather again, by 
his own right, set the Prussian crown upon his 
head, once more distinctly emphasizing the fact 
that it was accorded him by the will of God alone 
. . . and that he looked upon himself as the chosen 
instrument of heaven. . . . Looking upon myself 
as the instrument of the Lord, without regard to 
the opinions and intentions of the day, I go my 
way. . . . 

William II, Speech, August 25, 1910. 

I welcome with all my heart those who wish to 
assist me in my work, no matter who they may be, 
but those who oppose me in this work I will crush. 
William II, Speech at a Brandenburg banquet, 1890. 

The sole pillar of the realm 

Just as at that time [in the reign of William I], 
so now, too, distrust and discord are rife among 
the people. The only pillar on which the realm 
rested was the army. So it is today! 

William II, Speech, October 18, 1894. 

3 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Imperial menaces 

You know very well that you are to fight against 
a cunning, brave, well-armed and terrible enemy. 
If you come to grips with him, be assured quarter 
will not be given, no prisoners will be taken. Use 
your weapons in such a way that for a thousand 
years no Chinese shall dare to look upon a German 
askance. Be as terrible as Attila's Huns. 

William II, Speech to the Chinese Expeditionary force, 
July 27, 1900. The last sentence appeared in contem- 
porary reports but not in the official version. 

It is my imperial and royal command that you 
concentrate your energies for the present upon the 
attainment of one particular object, that you em- 
ploy all your skill and all the bravery of my sol- 
diers to exterminate the treacherous English, to 
shatter and annihilate General French's contempti- 
ble little army. 

William II, Order issued August 19, 1914. 

. . . Remember that you are the chosen people! 
The Spirit of the Lord has descended upon me 
because I am the Emperor of the Germans! 

I am the instrument of the Almighty. I am his 
sword, his agent. Woe and death to all those who 
shall oppose my will! Woe and death to those 
who do not believe in my mission! Woe and 
death to the cowards ! 

Let them perish, all the enemies of the German 
people! God demands their destruction, God who, 
by my mouth, bids you to do His will ! 

William II, Proclamation to the Army of the East, 
1914. 

4 



UTTERANCES OF RULERS 

Germany's destiny as a World Power 

Germany's greatness makes it impossible for her 
to do without the ocean; but the ocean also bears 
witness that, even in the distance and on its farther 
side, without Germany and the German Emperor 
no great decision dare be taken. 

William II, Speech, July 3, 1900. 

In spite of the fact that we have no such fleet 
as we should have, we have conquered for our- 
selves a place in the sun. It will be my task to 
see to it that this place in the sun shall remain 
our undisputed possession . . . for our future lies 
upon the water. 

William II, Speech, June 18, 1901. 

The Great Emperor (William I) with his great 
aides laid the basis, the cornerstone of the build- 
ing; it is for us to build upon it. ... A great fu- 
ture awaits us, if we are but determined to make 
it so. 

William II, Speech, June 20, 1903. 

God would never have taken such great pains 
with our German Fatherland and its people if He 
had not been preparing us for something still 
oreater. We are the salt of the earth. . . . 

William II, Speech, March 22, 1905. 

The triumph of the greater Germany, which some 
day must dominate all Europe, is the single end for 
which we are fighting. 

William II, Proclamation, June, 191 5. 

5 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Of the foregoing utterances of William II, the assur- 
ances to the Belgians, October, 191 1, and the proclama- 
tions and orders issued in 1914 and 1915 are cited from 
"Juges par eux-memes" (pp. 79-81). The other cita- 
tions are to be found in the collection of the Emperor's 
speeches made by Christian Gauss, "The German Em- 
peror" (Scribner's Sons, 1915). Grumbach, in "Das an- 
nexionishsche Deutschland," p. 5, gives the following ex- 
tract from the Emperor's "Proclamation to the German 
People," July 31. 191 5: 

In heroic deeds and sufferings we hold out un- 
wavering, until peace comes— a peace that affords 
us for the future the necessary military, political 
and economic securities and establishes the condi- 
tions for the unimpeded development of our cre- 
ative forces. ... 

Demands for annexations 

The declaration of war by Russia was followed 
by that of France (sicf), and when after this the 
Englishmen also assailed us, I said: 

"I am glad of this, and I am glad because now 
we can have an accounting with our enemies, and 
because now, at last, we shall gain a direct outlet 
from the Rhine to the sea." 

Since that time ten months have elapsed. Much 
precious blood has been shed. It shall not, how- 
ever, have been shed in vain. A strengthening of 
the German Empire and its extension over its pres- 
ent boundaries, so far as this is necessary to secure 
us against future attacks — that must be the fruit 
of this war. 

King Louis of Bavaria, Speech, June 7, 1915. 
6 



UTTERANCES OF RULERS 

The heavy sacrifices which the whole German 
people has made . . . call upon us not to make 
peace until the enemy is overthrown and we can 
secure a peace which, as far as we can see into 
the future, shall secure the free development of the 
whole people in every direction ; until we shall have 
boundaries which will discourage our enemies from 
again attacking us. 

King Louis of Bavaria, Speech delivered after the 
occupation of Warsaw. 

I share with you the hope and the firm convic- 
tion that after this great war ... a victorious and 
honorable peace will be won. In this peace I hope 
that we shall secure a great African colonial em- 
pire as well as a sufficient number of solid points 
of support over the surface of the globe for our 
navy and commerce. . . . 

Duke John Albert of Mecklenburg, Telegram to the 
Colonial Society of Ruhrort; published in "Dusseldorfer 
General-Anzeiger," June 29, 1915. 



CHAPTER II 

I. UTTERANCES OF GERMAN MINISTERS AND 
CHANCELLORS 

L FROM BISMARCK TO BETHMANN-HOLLWEG 

"Blood and iron" 

Not by speeches and resolutions of majorities 
are the great questions of the time decided — that 
was the mistake of 1848 and 1849 — but by iron 
and blood. 

Bismarck, in the Military Committee of the Prussian 
Chamber of Deputies, 1862. 

The "Editing" of the Ems Dispatch 

About great events a wreath of legend is always 
twined, and this is often a very good thing. There 
are legends which ought not to be destroyed. 

The King was at Ems, I was at Varzin, when 
the uproar on account of the candidacy of Prince 
Leopold of Hohenzollern for the Spanish throne 
broke out in Paris. The French behaved most 
fatuously. Worst of all was the Government, with 
Emile Ollivier at its head. He was not in any way 
equal to the situation, and he had no idea how much 
harm he was doing in the French legislature with 
his imprudent blusterings. 

8 



UTTERANCES OF MINISTERS 

At the moment the situation was extremely fa- 
vorable for us. We were actually the challenged 
party; and since it had long been clear to us all 
that a settlement with France was necessary, this 
moment seemed to us suitable for unsheathing the 
sword. Accordingly I left Varzin in order to dis- 
cuss all important questions at Berlin with Moltke 
and Roon. On the way, I received by telegraph 
the news : Prince Charles Anthony of Hohenzol- 
lern, moved by his love of peace, has withdrawn 
the candidacy of his son Leopold. Everything is 
satisfactorily arranged. 

I was quite taken aback by this unexpected so- 
lution, for I asked myself: Will an equally fa- 
vorable occasion ever again present itself? 

On reaching Berlin, I summoned Roland and 
told him to telegraph home that I would re- 
turn in three days. At the same time, in a dispatch 
to Ems, I tendered to His Majesty my resignation 
as President of the Ministry and as Chancellor of 
the Confederation. In reply, I received a telegram 
in which the King summoned me to Ems. Long 
before this I had worked out a clear view of the 
situation, and I said to myself: If I go to Ems, the 
whole game is up ; in the most favorable case we 
reach a rotten compromise; the only possible, the 
only honorable and great solution, is shut out; I 
must do whatever I can to bring His Majesty to 
Berlin, where he will feel the pulse of the nation 
better than he can in Ems. I therefore set forth, 
in the most respectful fashion, the reason why I 
was unable to come to Ems ; my presence at Berlin 
was, at the moment, absolutely indispensable. 

9 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Fortunately, in the meantime, the French, short- 
sighted and grown arrogant, did all they could to 
drive the wagon off the road again. They had the 
effrontery to suggest that the King sign a letter 
that amounted to a deep humiliation. The King 
asked my advice by telegraph. I answered with 
a clear conscience: To sign is impossible. 

I had invited Moltke and Roon to dine with me 
on the evening of July 14, and we discussed all 
eventualities. We all shared the hope that the 
foolish step taken by France, the unheard-of sug- 
gestion addressed to our King, would dispel the 
danger of a weak and inglorious outcome. Then, 
while we were still at table, a dispatch arrived 
from Ems. It began as follows: 

"The news of the withdrawal of the candidacy of 
the hereditary prince of Hohenzollern having been 
officially communicated by the Spanish Royal Gov- 
ernment to the French Imperial Government, the 
French Ambassador at Ems has addressed to His 
Majesty a further demand, namely, to authorize him 
to telegraph to Paris that His Majesty the King 
pledges himself for all time never again to give his 
consent if the Hohenzollerns should again revert 
to their candidacy." 

A lengthy explanation followed. It was to the 
effect that the King had maintained the position 
taken in previous communications to Count Bene- 
detti. The Ambassador had received this reply 
with thanks and had undertaken to communicate it 
to his Government. Subsequently Benedetti had 
asked for another audience with His Majesty, if 
only to receive once more direct oral confirmation 

10 



UTTERANCES OF MINISTERS 

of what His Majesty had told him on the prom- 
•enade. Then the dispatch continued: 

"His Majesty, however, refused to receive the 
French Ambassador again, and had him told by 
the adjutant on duty that His Majesty had no 
further communications to make to the Ambas- 
sador." 

When I had finished reading this dispatch, Roon 
and Moltke simultaneously dropped their knives 
and forks on the table and pushed back their chairs. 
There was a long silence. We were all deeply de- 
pressed. We felt that the affair had come to noth- 
ing.* 

At this point I put to Moltke the question: "Is 
the instrument that we need for war, our army, 
really so good that we can accept war with the 
greatest likelihood of success?" Moltke was firm 
as a rock in his confidence. "We have never had 
a better machine than at this moment," he said. 
Roon, in whom I had, it must be confessed, less 
confidence, fully confirmed what Moltke said. 

"Well, then, continue to eat quietly," I said to 
my two comrades. I seated myself at a small, round 
marble table that stood beside the dining table, re- 
read the dispatch carefully, took a pencil and 
crossed out all the middle sentences about Bene- 
detti's request for a further audience, etc. I left 
only the head and the tail. Now the dispatch had 
quite a different aspect. I read it to Moltke and 
Roon in this new form. They both exclaimed: 
"Splendid.' That cannot fail to work." We went 
on eating with the best of appetites. 

* Literally : "had run off into the sand." 
II 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

I immediately gave orders that the dispatch be 
sent through the telegraph office with the least 
possible delay to all the newspapers and all the 
legations. And we were still together when we 
received the news we hoped for concerning the 
effect which the dispatch had produced in Paris. 
It burst there like a bomb. 

Although in truth an insulting proposal had been 
made to our King, the dispatch gave the French the 
impression that our King had affronted their rep- 
resentative. All the idlers on the boulevards were 
of the opinion that this was not to be borne. The 
cry: "To Berlin! To Berlin!" leaped from the 
howling masses. The right key had been struck. 

And the effect here was the same as there. The 
King, who at my urgent entreaty had decided to 
break off his cure at Ems, returned to Berlin, and 
was absolutely astounded by the acclamations with 
which he was greeted at every stage of his journey. 
For the moment he wholly failed to grasp what had 
happened. The indescribable enthusiasm, the roar 
of cheers that met him in Berlin, seized and moved 
our old master profoundly. His eyes moistened. 
He recognized that this was truly a national war, 
a popular war, which the people longed for, which 
they needed. 

Even before his arrival at Berlin, we had received 
the King's authorization to mobilize at least a part 
of the army. When the Crown Prince left the 
royal train he spoke in the station, and purposely 
in a loud voice, of the approaching mobilization, 
and there was another outburst of cheers, and again 
more cheers. By the time that we reached the cas- 

12 



UTTERANCES OF MINISTERS 

tie, His Majesty was already inclined to mobilize 
the whole army. . . . 

I may add that I was formally entitled to make 
the erasures that appeared to me to be absolutely 
necessary. It was left to my discretion to publish 
the telegram in full or to make extracts from it. 
I have had no reason to regret that I made ex- 
tracts. 

This story was told by Bismarck to a number of depu- 
ties, at a social gathering in his house. One of his 
hearers, who had taken notes, published the story sev- 
eral years later in the "Neue Freie Presse," of Vienna, 
November 20, 1892. It was reprinted November 27 in the 
"Hamburger Nachrichten," which was Bismarck's organ, 
with an editorial statement that it was inexact in some 
details. It is given in Poschinger, "Bismarck und die 
Parlamentarier" (1894), vol. ii, pp. 128-131. 

There are other versions. Two brief statements made 
by Bismarck are given by Busch in his "Tagebuchblatter" 
(1897), vol. i, pp. 546, 547; vol. ii, p. 485. In his post- 
humous memoirs Bismarck again tells the story. One sig- 
nificant passage follows: 

After I had read to my two guests the condensed 
version, Moltke remarked : "Now it has a different 
ring; before it sounded like a parley; now it is like 
a flourish in reply to a challenge." I went on to 
explain : "If in carrying out His Majesty's instruc- 
tions I at once communicate this text, which con- 
tains no alteration in or addition to the telegram, 
not only to the newspapers but also by telegraph to 
all our legations, it will be known in Paris before 
midnight; and there, not only on account of its 

13 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

contents but also on account of the manner of its 
distribution, it will have the effect of a red rag 
upon the Gallic bull. Fight we must if we do not 
wish to act the part of the vanquished without a 
conflict. Success, however, depends essentially upon 
the impression which the origin of the war makes 
upon us and upon others; it is important that we 
be the party attacked; and this advantage Gallic 
arrogance and touchiness will give us if we make 
public announcement to all Europe, so far as we 
can without the speaking trumpet of the Reichstag, 
that we fearlessly meet the public threats of 
France." 

"Gedanken und Erinnerungen," vol. ii, p. 91. 

Why Paris should not be destroyed 

The question was raised whether Paris, despite 
its fortifications, could not be stormed. The mili- 
tary men said that it could. . . . Count Waldersee 
wished to see ''Babylon laid in ruins." . . . Bis- 
marck, however, replied: 

"Yes, that would be very good, but for many 
reasons it would not be practicable. For one thing, 
German capitalists of Cologne and Frankfort have 
placed considerable funds there." 

Busch, "Tagebuchblatter," vol. i, p. 103. 

Countess Bismarck's hatred of the French 

Prince Albert inquired regarding the Countess's 
health. "She is very w^ell now" (Bismarck replied), 
. . . "only she suffers still from her fierce hatred 
of the Gauls, all and each of whom she would like 

14 



UTTERANCES OF MINISTERS 

to see shot or stabbed dead, even to the very little 
children— who after all are not to blame for having 
such abominable parents." 

Busch, ibid., vol. i, p. 332. 

Bismarck's regrets 

He complained ... to us that he had derived 
little joy or satisfaction from his political activity. 
For that, he said, no one loved him. Through that, 
he had made no one happy, neither himself nor his 
family nor others. 

We protested ; but he went on : 

"But I have made many unhappy. But for me 
three big wars would not have been fought, 80,000 
men would not have been slain, nor would their 
parents, brothers, sisters and widows have mourned 
their death. . . . That, however, I have settled with 
God. But from all that I have done I have derived 
little or no joy; on the other hand, much vexation, 
anxiety and trouble." 

Busch, ibid.j vol. ii, p. 468. 

A promise, a threat, and a prophecy 

We shall not attack France, under any circum- 
stances. . . . Should we be attacked again by 
France and be forced to the conviction that we 
should never under any circumstances enjoy re- 
pose . . . we should endeavor to make France in- 
capable of attacking us for thirty years. . . . The 
war of 1870 would be child's play compared with 
that of 1890 — I do not know when it may come — 
in its results for France. On one side as on the 

15 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

other there would be the same effort: each would 
seek to bleed the other white. 

Bismarck, Speech in the Reichstag, January ii, 1887. 

Value to Germany of the neutralization of Luxem- 
burg and of Belgium 

In exchange for this right of maintaining a gar- 
rison in Luxemburg, in exchange for the fortress 
which, according to the conviction of our military 
authorities, offered us but slight strategic advan- 
tage, we have received compensation in the neu- 
tralizing of the territory under a European guar- 
anty. That this guaranty will be upheld, if occa- 
sion arises, I believe in spite of all quibbling; and 
this guaranty is for us from a military point of 
view a complete compensation for the surrender 
of the right of garrison. 

Bismarck, Speech in the North German Federal Diet, 
Sept. 24, 1867. 

It is an indubitable fact that Count Moltke . . . 
was of the opinion that Germany, in possession of 
Metz and Strassburg, with Mayence, Cologne and 
Coblenz in the second line, could in case of a war 
on two fronts maintain the defensive against 
France for an indefinite time and meanwhile em- 
ploy its chief force in the East. . . . We should 
regard it as a piece of presumption to attempt to 
support the views of the great strategist with our 
own opinion ; but we should like to add that a de- 
fensive conduct of the war by Germany against 
France, so long as we are, in possession of Metz 
and Strassburg, and so long as we remain covered 

16 



UTTERANCES OF MINISTERS 

by the neutral Belgian and Luxemburg territory, 

would not deprive the left bank of the Rhine, but 
only a part of Alsace, of protection by the German 
forces. 

Bismarck, cited in Hofmann, "Fiirst Bismarck, 1890- 
1898," vol. ii, p. 194. 

Cutting off sea trade lawful warfare 

The more a country depends on maritime com- 
merce, the more necessary it becomes to cut off all 
its communications in case of sea warfare. Such a 
country might indeed need this commerce for its 
own nourishment and for the raw materials re- 
quired in its industry. I am of the opinion that 
cutting off the enemy's navigation will remain an 
indispensable method of conflict. He who wages 
war wishes to gain its goal ; and if he possesses the 
necessary energy, he succeeds by employing every 
means, including in the case of sea war that of 
stopping all the enemy's commerce. No one can 
reject this supreme weapon. Moreover, it is ex- 
actly what is done in land warfare. If during the 
siege of Paris anyone had sent a train of foodstuffs 
towards the French capital, it would have been 
stopped. The case is quite the same at sea. 

Chancellor von Caprivi, Speech in the Reichstag, 
March 4, 1892; cited in "L'Homme Enchaine" (February 

V. 1915)- 

Concerning the Polish expropriation laws 

When recourse is had to special legislation, to a 
measure which I concede to be harsh, its complete 

17 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

success must be assured, and the measure must 
not be so weakened that its odium will remain while 
its useful effect will be lost. 

Chancellor von Biilow, Speech in the Prussian Diet,, 
1907. 

The invasion of Belgium a "wrong" 

Gentlemen, we are now in a state of necessity of 
self-preservation (Notwehr) and necessity knows 
no law. Our troops have occupied Luxemburg and 
perhaps have already entered Belgian territory. 

Gentlemen, that is a breach of international law. 
It is true that the French Government declared at 
Brussels that France would respect Belgian neu- 
trality so long as her adversary respected it. We 
knew, however, that France stood ready for an 
invasion. France could wait, we could not. A 
French attack on our flank on the lower Rhine 
might have been disastrous. So we were forced to 
ignore the rightful protests of the governments of 
Luxemburg and Belgium. The wrong — I speak 
openly — ^the wrong we thereby commit we will try 
to make good as soon as our military aims have 
been attained. 

He who is menaced as we are and is fighting for 
his highest possessions can only consider how he 
is to hew his way through (diirchhauen) . 

Speech of Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg in the 
Reichstag, August 4, 1914. 

Germany had no grievance against Belgium 

I was received this morning [August 4] at 9 
o'clock by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. He 

18 



UTTERANCES OF MINISTERS 

said to me: "We have been obliged by absolute 
necessity to address to your Government the re- 
quest of which you are aware. ... It is only with 
the utmost anguish (la mort dans' Vame) that the 
Emperor and the Government have seen themselves 
obliged to come to this decision. For me it is the 
most painful one that I have ever had to make. 
. . . Germany has nothing with which to reproach 
Belgium, whose attitude has always been cor- 
rect." . . . 

On August 5 ... I was received by the Under 
Secretary of State. Herr Zimmermann expressed 
to me, with much emotion, his profound regrets 
for the cause of my departure. , . . He sought no 
pretext to excuse the violation of our neutrality. 
He did not invoke the supposed French plan . . . 
of passing through Belgium in order to attack Ger- 
many on the lower Rhine. . . . [To all remon- 
strances he] simply replied that the Department 
for Foreign Affairs was powerless. Since the order 
for mobilization had been issued ... all power 
now belonged to the military authorities. It was 
they who had considered the invasion of Belgium to 
be an indispensable operation of war. . . . 

Reports of Baron Beyens, Belgian Minister at Berlin, 
to the Belgian Foreign Minister; "Second Belgian Gray 
Book," docs. nos. 25, 51, 52. 

"Strategical reasons" versus "scraps of paper" 

I found the Chancellor* very agitated. His Ex- 
cellency at once began a harangue, which lasted 

* This interview occurred on the evening of August 4, 1914. 
19 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

for about twenty minutes. He said that the step 
taken by His Majesty's Government was terrible 
to a degree ; just for a word — "neutrality," a word 
which in war time had so often been disregarded — 
just for a scrap of paper Great Britain was going 
to make war on a kindred nation who desired noth- 
ing better than to be friends with her. All his 
efforts in that direction had been rendered useless 
by this last terrible step, and the policy to which, 
as I knew, he had devoted himself since his acces- 
sion to office had tumbled down like a house of 
cards. What we had done was unthinkable ; it was 
like striking a man from behind while he was fight- 
ing for his life against two assailants. He held 
Great Britain responsible for all the terrible events 
that might happen. I protested strongly against 
that statement, and said that, in the same way as 
he and Herr von Jagow wished me to understand 
that for strategical reasons it was a matter of life 
and death to Germany to advance through Belgium 
and violate the latter's neutrality, so I would wish, 
him to understand that it was, so to speak, a mat- 
ter of "life and death" for the honor of Great Britain 
that she should keep her solemn engagement to 
do her utmost to defend Belgium's neutrality if 
attacked. That solemn compact simply had to be 
kept, or what confidence could anyone have in en- 
gagements given by Great Britain in the future? 
The Chancellor said : "But at what price will that 
compact have been kept? Has the British Gov- 
ernment thought of that?" I hinted to his Excel- 
lency as plainly as I could that fear of consequences 

20 



UTTERANCES OF MINISTERS 

could hardly be regarded as an excuse for breaking 
solemn engagements, but his Excellency was so 
excited, so evidently overcome by the news of our 
action, and so little disposed to hear reason that 
I refrained from adding fuel to the flame by fur- 
ther argument. . . . 

Report of Sir Edward Goschen, British Ambassador at 
Berlin, to Sir Edward Grey. "British Blue Book," doc. 
no. i6o. 

A retraction retracted 

When on August 4 I spoke of the wrong we were 
committing in invading Belgium . . . there were 
already many indications of guilt on the part of 
the Belgian Government. . . . Now that it is 
shown by documents found in Brussels ... in 
what manner and to what extent Belgium had aban- 
doned its neutrality as regards England, it is clear 
to all the world . . . that when our troops entered 
Belgian territory they were on the soil of a State 
which had itself long before worm-holed its own 
neutrality. 

Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, Speech in the 
Reichstag, December 2, 1914. 

Subsequent demonstration that the documents found 
in Brussels did not incriminate Belgium led to the follow- 
ing inspired declaration in the "Norddeutsche Allgemeine 
Zeitung," August 27, 1915: 

On the part of Germany no attempt has ever 
been made to justify the German invasion of Bel- 
gium through subsequent allegations of guilty con- 
duct on the part of the Belgian Government. 

Cited in "Friedenswarte," Jahrgang 17, p. 341. 
21 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Threats of annexation 

The greater the peril which we have to meet . . . 
the more firmly we must hold out, until we have 
conquered for ourselves all possible real guaranties 
and securities that none of our enemies, either sin- 
gly or in union, shall again dare to appeal to arms 
against us. The more furiously, gentlemen, the 
storm rages about us, the more firmly must we 
build our own house. 

Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, Speech in the 
Reichstag, May 28, 191 5. 

Of one thing our enemies must be assured: the 
longer and the more bitterly they conduct this war 
against us, the greater become the guaranties which 
we shall be obliged to demand. . . . Neither in the 
East nor in the West can our foes be permitted to 
control sally-ports, through which in the future 
they may threaten us anew and with greater vio- 
lence. 

Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, Speech in the 
Reichstag, December 9, 1915. 

Russia cannot be permitted a second time to 
launch its armies against the unprotected frontiers 
of East and West Prussia. . . . And if anyone be- 
lieves that we shall surrender the lands which we 
have occupied in the West, on which the blood of 
our people has flowed, without full security for our 
future — we will obtain for ourselves real guaran- 
ties that Belgium shall not be built up as an Anglo- 
French vassal state nor as a military and economic 
bulwark against Germany. 

22 



UTTERANCES OF MINISTERS 

In this case also there can be no status quo ante; 
in this case also Germany cannot sacrifice the Flem- 
ish people, so long oppressed, to a renewed process 
of Gallicization. 

Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, Speech in the 
Reichstag, April 5, 1916. 

Germany's political and economic situation makes 
it appear urgently necessary that, after the end of 
this war, our colonial possessions shall be main- 
tained and increased, without prejudice to the pos- 
sible acquisition of territory in Europe. 

Dr. Solf, Secretary of State for the Colonies, in the 
"Kolonialkalender" for 191 5. 

As in the home country we are directing our at- 
tention to the securing of such future boundaries 
that no hostile attack shall in future be a matter of 
apprehension, so also we shall not be able to ignore 
a proper development of our colonial possessions. 

All European politics have in the course of time 
become world politics. . . . Germany must follow 
this development, but the necessary condition for 
the independent economy of a Great Power is ter- 
ritorial possessions in every climatic zone. 

Dr. Solf, Speech at Frankfort, May 29, 1916. 

In reply to a declaration of Social Democratic depu- 
ties against annexations, Herr von Loebell, Prussian Min- 
ister of the Interior, said in the Prussian Diet, January 
17, 1916: 

This declaration is not in harmony with the true 
spirit of the people in this heroic time; least of all 
will it be intelligible to the men who are fighting 
for us. . . . The German Empire must build with 

23 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

blood and iron the road to the attainment of its 
political destiny in the world. 

The outcome of this war cannot be negative, it 
must be positive. It is not a question of our being 
annihilated, of our not being diminished or torn to 
pieces or plundered; it is, on the contrary, a ques- 
tion of securing a plus, in the form of real securities 
and guaranties, in compensation for our unprece- 
dented toil and suffering. ... In view of the feel- 
ing against us which this war will leave behind it, 
the simple reestablishment of the status quo ante 
helium would not be a gain for Germany but a 
loss. . . . Now that the cloth is cut between us 
and Russia, we need considerably increased security 
in the East, which . . . can consist only in a cor- 
rection of our unfavorable eastern frontiers. . . . 

It has always seemed to me a mark of weakness 
to cherish the hope of being able to attain a real, 
honest reconciliation with France, so long as we 
have no intention of restoring Alsace-Lorraine. . . . 
Perhaps in coui^se of time the French people will 
submit to the provisions of the Peace of Frankfort, 
if they are obliged to recognize that these provi- 
sions cannot be changed. This is still more likely 
if we succeed in developing further our strategic 
position as against France — a position which is still 
unfavorable. 

Prince von Biilow, former Chancellor, "Deutsche Poli- 
tik" (1916), pp. xii, 85-86, 88-89. 

I have followed your argument with increasing 
appreciation, and I am glad to be able to tell you 
that I share your view in every respect. It has 

24 



UTTERANCES OF MINISTERS 

given me particular satisfaction that you have 
shown up the meaningless phrase of the "right of 
peoples to determine their own destiny" in all its 
hoUowness. . . . 

Von Bissing, Governor General of Belgium, Letter to 
Dr. Mtiller-Meiningen, member of the Reichstag, regard- 
ing a pamphlet written by the latter advocating a German 
protectorate of Belgium. (See below, p. 145.) See 
Grumbach, "Des Annexionistische Deutschland," p. 295. 



II. BISMARCK'S UNHEEDED WARNINGS* 

Against German Jingoes 

No far-seeing reckoning with existing factors of 
European policy is to characterize German state- 
craft; its efforts are not to be directed to helping, 
as far as possible, to avoid wars of which the out- 
come would be incalculable; on the contrary, Ger- 
many is to assume in Europe an attitude of provo- 
cation and play the part of the man who, sud- 
denly enriched and presuming on the dollars in 
his pocket, tries to trample over everybody. There 
is danger that such views may spread in Germany; 
and this increases the apprehension that, in spite of 
the best will, Germany may get running on a wrong 
track, on which there will be no turning back until 
we meet a catastrophe. 

Hofmann, "Fiirst Bismarck, 1890-1898," vol. i, p. 382. 

* Most of the citations in this section are drawn from Mun- 
roe Smith, "Military Strategy versus Diplomacy in Bis- 
marck's Time and Afterwards," in Political Science Quar- 
terly, March, 1915. 

25 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

A great power that attempts to exert pressure on 
the policy of other countries, outside of its own 
sphere/ of interests, puts itself in peril. ... It is 
following a policy of power, not one of interest ; it 
is working for prestige. 

Bismarck, Speech in the Reichstag, Feb. 6, 1888. 

Against supporting Austria's Eastern ambitions 

Least of all is it Germany's affair to promote am- 
bitious plans of Austria in the Balkans. 

The (German-Austrian) alliance covered only 
the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, not also its east- 
ern policy against Russia. 
Hofmann, "Fiirst Bismarck," vol. i, p. 256; vol. ii, p. 4. 

Our relations to Austria ... do not rest on the 
basis . . . that either of the two nations can be 
required to put itself and all its power . . . com- 
pletely at the service of the other. . . . What inter- 
ests Austria has in Constantinople is for Austria 
alone to determine. We have none there. 

Bismarck, Speech in the Reichstag, Jan. 11, 1887. 

It would be of advantage to Germany if in one 
way or another, physically or diplomatically, the 
Russians established themselves in Constantinople 
and had to defend it. We should then no longer 
be in the position to be used ... as the dog to be 
set barking {Hetzhund) against Russian lustings 
for the Bosphorus; we could wait to see whether 
Austria were attacked. 

Bismarck, "Gedanken und Erinnerungen," vol. ii, p. 263. 

Bulgaria is assuredly not an object of sufficient 
26 



UTTERANCES OF MINISTERS 

magnitude that, on its account, Europe from Mos- 
cow to the Pyrenees and from the Baltic to Palermo 
should be hurried into a war of which no one can 
foresee the issue. In the end, after the war, we 
should hardly know what we had been fighting 
about. 

Bismarck, Speech in the Reichstag, Feb. 6, 1888. 

Against war with Russia 

The "Kreuzzeitung" speaks of preparation for 
the great decisive struggle between Slavs and Teu- 
tons. For such a struggle it is necessary to be pre- 
pared, but it will never be decisive. As little as the 
subjection of nearly all Europe under Napoleon I 
led to a definitive settlement between Latins and 
Teutons, so little will any finally decisive struggle 
take place between Slavs and Teutons; and we do 
not believe that Providence has set these two great 
nations side by side without design, or with the 
design that one should become subject to the other. 

To prevent an unnecessary outbreak of war be- 
tween Germany and Russia must remain the chief 
task of German statecraft. 

Hofmann, 'Tiirst Bismarck," vol. ii, pp. 124, 125. 

With Russia we need never have war unless 
liberal stupidities or dynastic blunders falsify the 
situation. 

Bismarck, "Gedanken und Erinnerungen," vol. i, p. 224. 

Against attacking France 

It is my opinion that the historical controversy 
which has been pending between us and France for 

27 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

three centuries is not ended. ... At the moment 
we are in possession of the object in dispute, if I 
may so describe Alsace; we do not need to fight 
for it. . . . Even the outbreak of war would be a 
great calamity. Quite apart from its outcome, 
think what it would mean for us. Our whole trade 
on land and at sea, all our industrial undertakings 
would be crippled. . . . And we must be prepared 
for the chance of defeat; I am not so timid as to 
anticipate it, but the possibility is indisputable. . . . 
France is a great and powerful country, as power- 
ful as we are ; France has a warlike people, a brave 
people, and has always had able military leaders. 
It is a chance, if they succumb to us. . . . If we 
should be beaten, if the victorious enemy should 
stand in Berlin, as we stood in Paris, if we were 
forced to accept his conditions of peace — well, gen- 
tlemen, what would these conditions be? 

Bismarck, Speech in the Reichstag, Jan. ii, 1887. 

Against making war in anticipation of war 

In 1867, when Moltke urged war on the Luxemburg 
question, Bismarck said: 

The personal conviction of a ruler or statesman, 
however well founded, that a war will break out at 
some future time, cannot justify starting such a 
war. Unforeseen occurrences may change the sit- 
uation and avert what seems inevitable. 

"Denkwiirdigkeiten des Grafen von Moltke," vol. v, pp. 
297 et seq. 

Referring to rumors that Germany contemplated an at- 
tack on France in 1875, Bismarck said in the Reichstag, 
February 9, 1876: 

28 



UTTERANCES OE MINISTERS 

Imagine for yourselves the situation if, a year 
ago, I had appeared here before you and had ex- 
plained to you: We must wage war; I really can- 
not give you any special reason why we should do 
so; we have not been insulted, but there is a dan- 
gerous state of things; we have for neighbors a 
lot of powerful armies; the French army is or- 
ganizing itself in a disturbing manner . . .would 
you not have felt a strong inclination to send for 
a physician, to have me investigated, to ascertain 
how I, after long experience in politics, could have 
perpetrated this colossal idiocy — to appear before 
you and say: It is possible that in a few years we 
may be attacked; in order to prevent this, let us 
fall rapidly upon our neighbors and hew them into 
heaps before they can pull themselves together — 
inviting you, in a way, to commit suicide because 
of apprehension of death? 

Referring to the same episode. 

The new Empire, in waging such a war, would 
have started on the road on which the first and 
second Erench Empires, in a continuous policy of 
war and prestige, went to meet destruction. Europe 
would have seen in our action an abuse of the power 
we had acquired, and everyone's hand . . . would 
have been raised against Germany or would have 
been on the sword-hilt. 

"Gedanken und Erinnerungen," vol. ii, pp. 175, 176. 

Referring to strained relations with Russia. 

If I were to come before you and say: We are 
seriously menaced by Erance and by Russia; it is 
to be foreseen that we shall be attacked; that is 

29 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

my conviction as a diplomatist; according to mili- 
tary information it is better for our defense to em- 
ploy the anticipatory thrust of the attack and open 
hostilities at once; accordingly, I ask the Imperial 
Diet for a credit of a milliard of marks in order to 
start the war against both our neighbors — well, 
gentlemen, I do not know whether you have suffi- 
cient confidence in me to vote such a grant. I hope 
not. ... It will be very hard to make it clear to 
the provinces, to the federated states and their 
people, that the war is inevitable, that it has to be. 
The question will be asked: Are you quite sure of 
this? Who knows? ... If in the end we proceed 
to attack, the whole weight of the imponderables, 
which weigh much heavier than material weights, 
will be on the side of our enemies whom we have 
attacked. "Holy Russia" will be enraged by the 
attack. France will bristle to the Pyrenees with 
weapons. The same thing will happen every- 
where. A war into which we are not carried by 
the will of the people . . . will not have behind it 
the same dash and fire as a war in which we are 
attacked. This advantage we must not permit to 
escape us, even if at the moment we are . . . su- 
perior to our future enemies. . . . Even if we are 
attacked at an unfavorable moment, we shall be 
strong enough for our defense. And we shall keep 
the chance of peace, leaving it to Divine Providence 
to determine whether in the meantime the necessity 
of war may not disappear. 

Bismarck, Speech in the Reichstag, Feb. 6. 1888. 

As regards the question whether it is advisable, 
30 



UTTERANCES OF MINISTERS 

in view of a war which we shall probably have to 
face sooner or later, to bring it on by anticipating 
the enemy before he secures a better armament, I 
have always . . . opposed the theory that answers 
in the affirmative. It is my conviction that even 
victorious wars are defensible only when they are 
forced upon us, and that no one can get any such 
look into the cards held by Providence as to reckon 
out in advance the movement of history. 

"Gedanken und Erinnerungen," vol. ii, p. 93. 

Against military domination and personal 
autocracy 

The following utterances of Bismarck date from the 
reign of William II. 

It is natural that, in the General Staff of the army, 
not only younger officers of ambition but also stra- 
tegists of experience should feel the desire to turn 
to account and to make clear on the pages of his- 
tory the efficiency of the troops they lead and their 
own capacity for leadership. It would be regretta- 
ble if the warlike spirit did not thus permeate the 
army. The duty of keeping the effects of this spirit 
within the limits which the need of the people for 
peace may justly demand, rests upon the political 
and not upon the military heads of the state. That 
the General Staff and its chiefs, . . . even down to 
the most recent period, have permitted themselves to 
be misled into imperiling peace, lies in the necessary 
spirit of the institution. ... It becomes dangerous 
only under a monarch whose policy lacks sense of 

31 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

proportion and capacity of resisting one-sided and 
constitutionally unjustifiable influences. . . . 

Former rulers had more regard for capacity than 
for obedience in their advisers. If obedience alone 
is the criterion, demands will be made on the all- 
round endowment of the monarch which even Fred- 
erick the Great could not meet, although in his time 
the conduct of the State in war and in peace was 
less difficult than it is today. 

''Gedanken und Erinnerungen/' vol. ii, pp. 93, 265. 

To find persons who, by virtue of their talents 
as well as their character, seem indicated for the 
position of Imperial Chancellor, but who represent 
no convictions of their own, is of course no easy 
matter. 

Hofmann, "Fiirst Bismarck," vol. ii, p. 217. 



CHAPTER III 

UTTERANCES OF PHILOSOPHERS, HISTORIANS 
AND MEN OF SCIENCE 

I. BEFORE THE OUTBREAK OF THE WORLD 
WAR 

Prevalent attitude of German professors towards 
the peace movement 

The German university professors have always 
been the most enthusiastic defenders of the [mih- 
tary] system. You hear nowhere in Germany more 
belittling of the peace and disarmament movements 
than among the university professors. 

Peace a means to war 

(Hugo Muensterberg, "The War and America/' 1914, 
p. 120.) 

Ye shall love peace as a means to new wars — 
and the short peace more than the long. . . . 

Ye say it is the good cause which halloweth even 
war ? I say unto you : it is the good war which hal- 
loweth every cause. War and courage have done 
more great things than charity. . . . 

... Be not considerate of thy neighbor. . . . 
What thou doest can no one do to thee again. Lo, 
there is no requital. . . . 

"Thou Shalt not rob! Thou shalt not slay!"— 
such precepts were once called holy. ... Is there 
not even in all life robbing and slaying? And for 

33 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

such precepts to be called holy, was not truth itself 
thereby slain? . . . 

This new table, O my brethren, put I up over 
you: Become hard. . . . 

Nietzsche, "Thus Spake Zarathustra," translated by 
Thomas Common, Macmillan (1911), pp. 52, 242, 243, 246, 
262. 

German and French traits 

It is wise for a people to pose, and let itself be 
regarded as profound, clumsy, good-natured, hon- 
est and foolish ; it might even be profound to do so ! 
Finally, we should do honor to our name — we are 
not called the ^'tiusche Volk" (deceptive people) 
for nothing. 

The European noblesse — of sentiment, taste and 
manners, taking the word in every high sense — is 
the work and invention of France. . . . 

Even at present France is still the seat of the 
most intellectual and refined culture of Europe, it 
is still the high school of taste. 

Nietzsche, "Beyond Good and Evil,'' translated by Helen 
Zimmern, Macmillan (1914), pp. 200, 213. 

I even feel it my duty to tell the Germans, for 
once in a way, all that they have on their conscience. 
Every great crime against culture for the last four 
centuries lies on their conscience. . . . And always 
for the same reason, always owing to their bottom- 
less cowardice in the face of reality, which is also 
cowardice in the face of truth ; always owing to the 
love of falsehood which has become almost in- 
stinctive in them. . . . 

"German intellect" is my foul air : I breathe with 
34 



^ UTTERANCES OF PHILOSOPHERS 

difficulty in the neighborhood of this psychological 
uncleanliness that has now become instinctive — an 
uncleanliness which in every word and expression 
betrays a German. They have never undergone a 
seventeenth century of hard self-examination, as 
the French have — a La Rochefoucauld, a Descartes, 
are a thousand times more upright than the very 
first among Germans — the latter have not yet had 
any psychologists. But psychology is almost the 
standard of measurement for the cleanliness or un- 
cleanliness of a race. . . . For if a man is not even 
clean, how can he be deep? That which is called 
"deep" in Germany is precisely this instinctive un- 
cleanliness toward one's self, of which I have just 
spoken : people refuse to be clear in regard to their 
own natures. 

Nietzsche, **Ecce Homo," translated by A. M. Ludovici, 
Macmillan (1911), pp. 124, 127. 



The philosophy of war 

Were disputes between States to be determined 
by a court and by compulsion exercised by su- 
perior power, all the States subjected to such a 
court would cease to be States. The suppression 
cf war would imply the suppression of all States 
and the remolding of civilized humanity into a sin- 
gle political system. . . . Separate States are there- 
fore by nature in a state of war with each other. 
Conflict must be regarded as the essence of their 
relations and as the rule, friendship as accidental 
and exceptional. 

In conflicts between individuals, as in conflicts 

35 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

between States ... so long as men are endowed 
with free will, compulsion alone can secure justice. 
... If the adversary's power of resistance is ex- 
hausted, if actual possession of the object in dis- 
pute is obtained, or if one party is compelled to ac- 
cept the will and pleasure of the other, the contro- 
versy is determined. The new state of things there- 
by established demands the same respect as the 
state of things that obtained before the conflict. 

In the intercourse of State with State there are 
no laws, and there can be none. . . . 

War is a fundamental institution of the State, 
and in the entire structure of the political organism 
military objects have an important place. Every- 
thing in the State must be calculated for the possi- 
bility of war. ... A State without adequate prepa- 
ration for war would no longer be a State, because 
it would have neglected the most important of its 
duties. 

A war may be waged for political interests, but 
never for an "idea." This would mean the sub- 
version of every solid principle on which the life 
of the State is based. 

The poet seeking to express the character of an 
age or of a nation can find no better figure for his 
purpose than that of the warrior, who gives visible 
expression to his personal worth, whose every step 
threatens the ruin of a world, whose decisions are 
reflected in the complicated movements of armies, 
whose every thought sets cities aflame, hurls nations 
in the dust, devastates territories and routs hostile 
hosts. 

In politics decisions may be postponed, but 

36 



UTTERANCES OF PHILOSOPHERS 

when the opportunity presents itself, let him who 
has the power and feels himself prepared cut the 
knot with the sword. For great historical ques- 
tions this is the only rational and permanent so- 
lution. 

Lasson, "Das Culturideal und der Krieg" (1868), pp. 
11-13, 31-32, 61, 105, 130. 

"Dictates of prudence" 

Between States there is but one sort of right — 
the right of the stronger . . . and therefore it is 
quite in accordance with reason that wars are waged 
between States. ... It does not follow that their 
relations are purely unreasonable and arbitrary. As 
in the case of the individual . . . the will of the 
State is that of a rational being . . . which natural- 
ly desires the advantageous, the expedient, and only 
occasionally the opposite. Every individual seeks 
primarily . . . his own advantage, that which pro- 
motes his existence, even at the cost of another and 
of many others. He cannot be required to be con- 
siderate beyond the obligations imposed upon him 
by law, to spare his fellows, to display pity or good 
will. Here it is simply a dictate of prudence, con- 
sideration of his own permanent advantage, that 
bids him place any further limitations upon his 
actions. . . . The simple expression of the dictate 
of prudence is not to harm any one, even if you 
have the law on your side, unless the result is an 
overbalancing and permanent advantage for your- 
self. 

If the State is to endure, its first task is to main- 
37 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

tain its power, for despite all treaties the weak is 
the prey of the strong, so soon as the latter has the 
will and the power. ... If that which is suitable 
and reasonable in any given field of will and action 
is to be described as in the broader sense moral, 
then in the relations between States this right of 
the stronger may be said to be moral. 

Lasson, ibid., pp. I4> I7> i^- 

Intervention 

An attempt has been made to remove many of 
the occasions that may give rise to war by setting 
up the general principle that no State is to inter- 
fere with the internal affairs of another State. 
Stated so broadly, the principle of non-intervention 
is absolutely senseless. ... If in consequence of a 
change that occurs in the other State or of a con- 
dition of things that is maintained there . . . the 
life of our own State is essentially and injuriously 
affected . . . there is unquestionably cause of war, 
provided a favorable result can be attained by war. 
... If intervention . . . promises success, not only 
is it justified, but it may even become the duty of 

the State to itself. 

Lasson, ibid., p. 82. 

Treaties 

There is no legal obligation upon a State to ob- 
serve treaties, but there is a dictate of far-sighted 
prudence. ... A State cannot commit a crime. The 
greatest fault with which it can be charged is a lack 
of far-sighted prudence. . . . Treaty rights are gov- 

38 



UTTERANCES OF PHILOSOPHERS 

emed wholly by considerations of advantage. . . . 
The State that breaks a treaty commits an act of 
war; it acts unwisely if it provokes the decision of 
arms without being assured of its superior power. 
If assured of this, the State may pursue its interest ; 
for between States no law obtains but that of the 
stronger. . . . 

Lassen, ibid., pp. 15, 16. 

Little States and weak peoples 

A so-called small State is not a State at all, but 

only a tolerated community, which absurdly pre- 
tends to be a State. . . . There may be greater and 
lesser States. The lesser States have rights only in 
so far as they possess a power of resistance that 
must be taken into account, in so far as they are 
desirable allies or respectable adversaries. The lit- 
tle State, however, that is obliged to base its hope 
©f existence on the belief that it will not be attacked 
for fear that another State will intervene, is no 
State at all, but the vassal of the State to which it 
looks for protection, and by whose magnanimity it 
lives. 

The right of living in political independence is 
not innate in a people ; it must rather be acquired by 
strenuous labor. ... A people of the highest cul- 
ture, but of a culture that proves unfavorable to 
the State with its rigid concentration of effort, and 
consequently also to warlike action, must perforce 
and in all justice obey the barbarian who possesses 
a greater capacity for political and military organ- 
kation. . . . An order of things in which physical 

39 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

strength, not spiritual value, wins the victory seems 
irrational. But a form of culture that is not able 
to found a State resting safely on itself and its 
power shows itself to be of doubtful moral value. 
. . . Culture exists for the purpose of making itself 
effective as power. 

Nobody is forced to be a slave. He who cannot 
endure slavery finds a road of escape always open 
in the sacrifice of life. Let war decide. 

The weak are prone to cherish a comforting be- 
lief in the inviolability of the treaties that assure 
them their miserable existence. But one of the 
functions of war is to prove to them that a treaty 
may be a bad one, that circumstances may have 
changed. There is only one guaranty: adequate 
military force. 

[Citizens of certain non-military States think 
themselves "free" because they have no duties to 
fulfill.] These so-called States exist only by a fic- 
tion; they are animated by no higher sentiment 
than the jealous hatred which the smaller feels for 
his greater neighbor, whose place he would like to 
occupy. 

[There are those who speak] of a so-called right 
of peoples to decide their own destiny. . . . To per- 
mit a people or, to be more correct, a fraction of a 
people, to settle international questions, such as 
their assignment to such and such a State, would 
be like permitting the children of a household to 
elect their father. . . . No shallower or falser no- 
tion was ever conceived by the Latin brain. 

Lasson, ibid,, pp. 13, 14, 71, 72, 75, 98, 99, 100. 
40 



UTTERANCES OF HISTORIANS 

"Culture'* versus civilization 

The higher the development of culture, the more 
energetically a people insists upon the national 
State. In the creation of this State . . . other 
States that resist this ideal must be destroyed. 
This, of course, can be effected only through vio- 
lence. 

There is a great difference between the require- 
ments of culture and those of civilization. Civiliza- 
tion almost always demands for its development 
peaceful rivalry and cooperation. . . . Civilization 
is everywhere the same: within it are quantitative 
differences only. . . . Between one culture and an- 
other there are always qualitative differences. . . . 
They may supplement, but they may also contra- 
dict one another. . . . Every nation believes in it- 
self . . . each considers its way the best. . . . In- 
tensive development of culture leads to national 
hatreds. . . . To demand of nations that have real 
cultures . . . that these shall develop in peace and 
without conflict is to demand the impossible, to sub- 
vert the order of nature, to set up a false idol in 
the place of real morality. This demand for the 
peaceful rivalry of States ... is either an empty 
phrase in the mouth of simpletons, or a deliberate 
and hypocritical lie. 

Lasson, ibid., pp. 66, 79. 

The State is power 

The State is, first of all, power to assert itself. 
Treitschke "Politik," vol. i, p. 32. 
41 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Absurdity of little States 

If we look at the matter more closely, it is clear 
that, if the State is power, only the State which is 
really powerful is true to type. Hence the obvious 
element of the ridiculous that attaches to the exist- 
ence of small States. 

Treitschke, ibid., vol. i, p. 43. 

Few persons reflect nowadays how ludicrous it 
is that Belgium should pride itself on being the 
center of the science of international law. ... A 
State which is in an abnormal situation must give 
rise to an abnormal misconstruction of interna- 
tional law. Belgium is neutral, it is mutilated by 
its very nature; how should a sound law of nations 
take form in such a State? 

Treitschke, ibid., vol. ii, pp. 548-549. 



Destiny of little States 

Times are changed. Empires rise and grow 
strong, and little commonwealths and principalities 
cease to be States. For no State deserves the name 
that has not in itself independence, that is not capa- 
ble of forming its own purposes, asserting itself, 
and enforcing its own rights. 

Niebuhr, cited by Treitschke, in "Zehn Jahre deutscher 
Kampfe," p. 35. 

In the sweeping away of little crowns we seai 
accomplished an act of simple historical necessity. 
He who has not yet learned from the past of all 

42 



UTTERANCES OF HISTORIANS 

European peoples that petty States have no place 
among nations of ripened culture, th^t the trend of 
history points to the conglomeration of great na- 
tional masses — such an one must at last open his 
eyes in view of the experiences of these pregnant 
weeks [in 1866]. 

Treitschke, ibid., p. 114. 

Prussia and Germany 

Censure of Prussia . . . will not cease until Prus- 
sia's great future is realized, when all the German 
peoples are united under the Prussian crown. . . . 

The most important practical progress that Ger- 
man unity has achieved ... I find in the fact that 
Prussia has grown to be a great power and has 
persistently incorporated in its strong body little 
States that had lived out their lives. 

Treitschke, ibid., pp. 18, 29. 

The Emperor William I said once to Bismarck, 
in a moment of irritation . . . "Why talk of the 
Empire? The Empire is nothing but an expanded 
Prussia." That was said with soldierly roughness, 
but it is true. 

Treitschke, "Politik," vol. i, p. 40. 

Political morality * ' 

It is necessary to distinguish between public and 
private morality. Since the State is power, the rel- 
ative importance of duties must be quite different 
for it and for the individual. In the case of the 
State, a great number of duties that rest upon the 

43 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

individual are unthinkable. For the State, self- 
assertion is the greatest of the commandments; for 
it, this is absolutely moral. And for this reason it 
must be declared that of all political sins the most 
abominable and the most contemptible is weak- 
ness ; this is, in politics, the sin against the Holy 
Ghost. 

Treitschke, ibid., vol. i, pp. loo-ioi. 

... In their intercourse with each other, States 
have frequently lived for decades in a condition of 
veiled hostility, and it is quite evident that this 
state of latent war justifies many diplomatic ruses. 
Take the negotiations between Bismarck and Bene- 
detti. Bismarck hoped that a great war might per- 
haps after all be avoided ; Benedetti came forward 
with shameless demands ; was not Bismarck acting 
morally in the fullest sense when he put off Bene- 
detti with half promises of possible German con- 
cessions? Under such conditions of latent war we 
may use the same arguments to defend recourse to 
bribery as against another State. It is absurd to 
blust#f about morality in the face of such circum- 
stances, or to expect a State to confront them with 
a catechism in its hand. 

Treitschke, ibid., vol. i, p. 107. 

Value of treaties 

Every treaty is a voluntary limitation which the 
State imposes on itself; and all international treat- 
ies are written with the saving clause: rebus sic 
stantibus (the situation remaining unchanged). A 

44 



UTTERANCES OF HISTDlilANS 

State cannot bind its will for the future as against 
another State. The State has no superior judge over 
itself, and it will conclude all its treaties with this 
tacit reservation. 

Treitschke, ibid., vol. i, pp. 37-38. 

Necessity and sublimity of war 

The establishment of an international court of 
arbitration as a permanent institution is irrecon- 
cilable with the nature of the State. . . . To the end 
of history weapons will maintain their right; and 
precisely herein lies the sanctity of war. 

Treitschke, ibid., vol. i, pp. 38-39. 

The living God will take care that war shall 
always return as a terrible medicine for the human 
race. 

Treitschke, ibid., vol. i, p. 78. 

All the peace-pipe smokers in the world will not 
bring it to pass that political Powers shall ever 
be of one mind, and if they are not the sword alone 
can decide between them. We have learned to 
recognize the moral majesty of war precisely in 
those of its characteristics which to superficial ob- 
servers seem brutal and inhuman. That for the 
sake of the Fatherland the natural sentiment of 
humanity is to be suppressed . . . this at the first 
glance is the terrible side of war, but it is at the 
same time its grandeur. It is not his life alone that 
man is called upon to sacrifice but also the natural 
and most profoundly justified emotions of the hu- 
man soul. He is to sacrifice his entire ego to a 

45 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

great patriotic idea. That is the morally sublime 
element in war. 

Treitschke, ibid., vol. ii, pp. 361-362. 

. . . The bestial cruelties committed by the Ba- 
varian troops [in 1866]. . . . 

Treitschke, "Zehn Jahre deutscher Kampfe," p. 161. 



Importance of an "irritable sense of honor" 

Whoever attacks the honor of a State even in 
externals, thereby impugns the essential character 
of the State. To attribute to the State a too irrita- 
ble sense of honor is to ignore the moral laws of 
politics. A State must have a very highly devel- 
oped sense of honor if it is not to be false to its 
nature. It is not a violet that blooms in the shade ; 
its power is to be displayed proudly and brilliantly ; 
it cannot permit this power to be questioned even 
symbolically. 

Treitschke, "Politik," vol. ii, p. 550. 

World power 

The whole development of our society of States 
unmistakably tends to depress the States of second 
rank. Even for us, if we take into account the world 
outside of Europe, this tendency reveals extremely 
serious prospects. In the division of the non-Euro- 
pean world among the European powers Germany 
has always hitherto failed to get its share ; and the 
question whether we can become an oversea Power 
involves our existence as a Power of the first rank. 

46 



UTTERANCES OF HISTORIANS 

If we cannot, we face the horrible prospect that 
England and Russia will divide the world between 
them. . . . 

Treitschke, ibid., vol. i, pp. 42-43. 

The whole position of Germany depends on the 
question how many millions of men will in the fu- 
ture speak German. . . . 

It is easily conceivable that a country that has 
no colonies will no longer be counted among the 
European Great Powers, however powerful it may 
be in other respects. For this reason we must not 
let ourselves drift into that condition of rigidity 
which results from a purely continental policy. 
The result of our next victorious war must, if pos- 
sible, be the acquisition of something in the way 
of a colony. 

Treitschke, ibid., vol. i, pp. 123-124. 



Confessions 

To German doctrinarianism nothing is impossi- 
ble. 

Treitschke, ''Historische Aufsatze," vol. ii, p. 553. 

We would give a great deal if in Berlin they did 
not understand the art of debasing the value of 
famous deeds of arms by boastful words. 

Treitschke, "Zehn Jahre deutscher Kampfe," p. 26. 

In Prussia they have a fatal facility of giving 
offense to the people of newly annexed countries. 

Treitschke, ibid., p. 54. 

47 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Warnings? 

In the inexorable justice of history, they who 
lusted to rule the world were cast under the feet 
of the stranger. 

Treitschke (writing of the Thirty Years' War), 
"Deutsche Geschichte," vol i, p. 5. 

An inscrutably wise Providence chastises nations 
through the very gifts they have sinfully misused.* 
Treitschke, ibid., vol. i, p. 22. 

II. SINCE THE OUTBREAK OF THE WORLD WAR 

A war of anticipation 

Bernhardi's brave books pointed out, in correct 
anticipation of events, the necessity of grasping the 
sword before the conspiracy that menaced Germany 
came to the point of action. 

Prof. Th. Schiemann, "Ein Verleumder : Glossen zur 
Vorgeschichte des Weltkrieges" (1915), p. 6. This pam- 
phlet is a reply to "J'^ccuse"; see below p. 240. 

Stepping-stones to world power 

We cannot conduct world politics on an equal 
basis with other Powers so long as we are limited 
to our present geographical position. . . . England 
must no longer be permitted to cut us off from 
our dominions across the sea. The coasts in every 

* In 1914 Mr. Balfour said : "Germany has known how to 
organize power, but she has not known how to use it." 

48 



UTTERANCES OF MEN OF SCIENCE 

part of the world, except where, as in America, 
they are able to protect themselves, must be brought 
under the guns of our ships, just as under those of 
England. . . . This means that the boundaries of 
the old, great and entire Germany, which are now 
again shining in the red dawn of war, must be per- 
manently retained. Above all things, we must get 
to the Channel. . . . We have occupied Belgium 
against France, we need it against England. The 
Channel is the most decisively important trade route 
of Europe ; one of its coasts (since the other cannot 
be wrested from England) must be ours. There the 
frontier against France is not to be drawn as it 
now runs, but further south, as it ran under Charles 
V. . . . The old frontiers of Lorraine and Bur- 
gundy apparently anticipated the extent of terri- 
tory which our strategists will today deem it ad- 
visable to annex to the Empire at the cost of 
France. . . . 

Prof. Martin Spahn, in "Hochland," Heft i (October, 
1914), pp. 25, 26. 

Let us confess openly that it is not simply the 
coercion of our needs in world trade that makes us 
England's rival. It lies in the nature of our nation 
to strive out of and beyond the boundaries of its 
present power. At bottom, it has never fitted into 
the cramped relations of the Continental West, as 
a State side by side with other States. . . . The 
German nation is stronger than the other nations of 
the West. Should it unfold all its forces, merely to 
gain political power in the West, it might well 
crush the other nations. It is only since the field 

49 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

of political activity open to western peoples has 
expanded beyond the boundaries of the West that 
room is given us to attain a political influence cor- 
responding to our strength, without being obliged, 
for this purpose, to take from the other civilized 
peoples in our part of the earth light and air for 
breathing and for thriving. . . . 

As one of the Great Powers we can and must 
have further growth : we must grow into a World 
Power. . . . 

Is Belgium to remain an outpost of England . . . 
permitting England at any moment to set foot on 
the Continent, while on the other hand it hinders us 
from disturbing the English control of the Chan- 
nel? ... If we had coast against coast, we should 
be on even terms with England, as we are on even 
terms with the Great Powers of the Continent. . . . 

. . . Timid, doubting voices . . . warn us against 
all thought of expansion of our frontiers, because 
the Empire might be obliged to add to the number 
of its subjects of foreign speech. . . . All great 
States rest on a basis of some nationality. But 
what is nationality? . . . 

In any case the requirements of foreign policy 
take precedence over those of domestic policy. All 
that a Great Power needs in extent of territory, in 
the way of favorable situation and strategic bound- 
aries, all that a World Power needs besides, in order 
to gain free movement in the trade of the world and 
to secure its progress against rivals at sea — all this 
must be attained for our Empire. . . . 

Prof. Martin Spahn, "Im Kampf um unsere Zukunft'* 
(1915), pp. 57-63. 

50 



UTTERANCES OF MEN OF SCIENCE 

A pax Germanica 

Voices have recently been heard warning against 
exaggerated claims and exhorting us to modera- 
tion. We are to seek no acquisition of territory, no 
expansion; we are to be satisfied to maintain the 
balance of power on land and to establish a balance 
of power on the sea. It is assumed that we shall 
obtain this aim, if, after this war, we continue to 
exist as a Sea Power, against the will of England. 
According to this view we might conclude peace at 
any moment on the basis of the status quo ante. 

It would be very lamentable if such views were 
diffused through the nation. If the maintenance 
of the balance of power should be the result of this 
war, we would have waged it in vain. . . . 

. . . We hope ... to become strong enough to 
give our Continent a pax Germanica, a German peace. 

Prof. J. Halle, in the Tubingen War Essays, "Durch 
Kampf zum Frieden," Heft i (1914), pp. 23, 28. 

The decision regarding the future of our colonies 
will not be reached in Africa or in southern waters, 
but in Europe. . . . When our Zeppelins shall fly 
over London, like eagles seeking their prey; when 
our submarines . . . shall drive, contemptuous of 
death, against the dreadnoughts, as if their aim was 
to breach the walls of Liege ; when our cruisers, 
such as the Emden, like flying Dutchmen become 
the terror of the North Sea — then only will come 
the time of accounting. Then will dawn the day of 
a new great German colonial policy, and new colo- 
nial maps will be wanted. 

.51 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Prof. Carl Mirbt, "Der Kampf tim unsere Kolonien" 
(1914), p. 20. 

Cultured correspondence 

The following letters of Professor Lasson appeared in 
the "Amsterdammer," a Dutch weekly review. They were 
published anonymously in the issue of October 11, 1914 
(no. 1946, page 7, col. 123), with a statement that their 
author was "a professor of philosophy and higher educa- 
tion, very well known in Germany." They were repub- 
lished in the Paris Temps (November 24, 1914). 



Berlin, September 2p, 1914. 
Dear Sir and Friend : 

For months I have not v^ritten to a single for- 
eigner; a foreigner is an enemy until he is proved 
to be a friend. It is impossible to remain neutral 
toward Germany and the German people. Either 
one looks upon Germany as the most perfect po- 
litical creation known to history, or else one be- 
lieves it should be destroyed, wiped out. No one 
but a German understands Germany. We are mor- 
ally and intellectually superior to other nations; 
we are without equals. The same is true of our 
organization and our institutions. 

William II, deliciae generis humani, has always 
protected peace, justice and honor, although his 
power would have enabled him to crush all opposi- 
tion. The greater his successes, the more modest 
he becomes. His Chancellor, Herr von Bethmann- 
Hollweg, the most eminent of men now living, 
knows no higher cares than those of truth, loyalty 
and right. Our army is, so to speak, a smaller 

52 



UTTERANCES OF MEN OF SCIENCE 

model of the intelligence and morality of the Ger- 
man people. We are forced to sacrifice our best 
and our noblest in a war against Russian brutes, 
English hirelings and Belgian fanatics. The French 
are still the nearest to us. We shall have no peace 
until those three European mischief-makers are 
crushed. . . . 

England pursues a policy that recalls the policies 
of European States in the eighteenth century. Ger- 
many, on the contrary, has taught the world that 
politics may be conducted conscientiously and war 
waged with loyalty. England is on the road to 
ruin. France may still be saved. As for Russia!, 
she must no longer be our neighbor. This time we 
shall wipe the slate clean. Our real enemy is Eng- 
land. Woe to thee, Albion! God is with us and 
defends our just cause! 



Berlin, September 30, 1914. 

Dear Sir and Friend : 

Allow me to give you a few more hints that will 
help you to understand a cultured German's way 
of thinking. We Germans are powerfully armed, 
partly to protect Holland. Were we not so strong, 
Holland would long ago have been annexed. She 
is unable to protect herself. This little Kingdom 
leads a quiet life at our expense ; it lives on its past 
glory and on money accumulated long ago. It is 
only an appendix to Germany. Its life is a com- 
fortable one; it is a dressing-gown-and-slippers life 
that demands little trouble, few efforts and few 
thoughts. If this life satisfies you, so much the 

53 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

better. As for the German, he has higher duties 
and higher aspirations. 

Today, Holland may think what she pleases; but 
any hostile action against the German Empire would 
have the most serious consequences. 

For the Holland of today we Germans have lit- 
tle respect or sympathy. Aside from the support 
we give them, we ought to thank God that the Hol- 
landers are not our friends. We draw deep into 
our lungs the great breath of history. This mis- 
erable bourgeois existence is not for us. 

I greet you most cordially, and wish most sin- 
cerely that you might live, as I do, in a "State of 
the Mighty." 

German plans and "atavistic instincts" 

Professor Wilhelm Ostwald, one of the most active 
agents of German propaganda in Sweden, gave to the 
Stockholm "Dagen" an interview, from which the follow- 
ing extracts were published in the Paris "Temps" (No- 
vember 26, 1914) : 

You ask me what Germany plans. Well, then, 
Germany plans to organize Europe, for until now 
Europe has not been organized. Germany plans 
to work along new lines in order to realize the idea 
of collective labor. 

How does Germany propose to work out her 
plans of organization in the West? She will de- 
mand that the German and the Frenchman be wel- 
comed, each in the other's country; that they be 
permitted to work and to acquire property under 
exactly the same conditions as the inhabitants of 
the country. 

54 



UTTERANCES OF MEN OF SCIENCE 

In the East, Germany will create a confederation 
of States, a sort of Baltic confederation, which 
should embrace the Scandinavian States, Finland 
and the Baltic provinces. Finally, Poland will 
be torn away from Russia and made into a new in- 
dependent State. I believe the time has come to 
rearrange the map of Europe. 

Q. What do you think of the growing part 
played by the different churches in the countries 
which up till now have had to suffer from invasion? 

A. This is a result which it has not been possi- 
ble to avoid. In many fields the present situation 
necessarily rouses atavistic instincts. I will say, 
however, that in our country God the Father is 
reserved for the personal use of the Emperor. In 
one instance He was mentioned in a report of the 
General Staff, but it is to be noted that He has not 
appeared there a second time. 

Europe under German hegemony 

In my view the following fruits of victory are 
highly desirable for the future of Germany, and at 
the same time for the future of federated Conti- 
nental Europe: (i) Liberation from the tyranny 
of England. (2) As a necessary means to this end, 
invasion of the British Pirate State by the German 
navy and army, occupation of London. (3) Divi- 
sion of Belgium: the largest part, as far west as 
Antwerp and Ostend, a State in the German 
Empire; the northern part to Holland; the 
eastern part to Luxemburg — also, thus enlarged, a 
State in the German Empire. (4) Germany obtains 

55 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

a great part of the British colonies as well as the 
Congo State. (5) France must cede a portion of 
her neighboring northeastern provinces. (6) Rus- 
sia is to be made powerless, by restoring the king- 
dom of Poland and connecting this with Austria- 
Hungary. (7) the German Baltic provinces revert 
to the German Empire. (8) Finland becomes an 
independent Kingdom and is to be connected with 
Sweden. . . . 

Ernest Haeckel in "Das Monistische Jahrhundert," no. 
31-32 (Nov. 16, 1914), p. 657. 

This was Haeckel's reply to a circular sent out by the 
President of the "Monistenbund," inquiring: ''What is 
your attitude towards Ostwald's views?" In one of his 
"Monistische Sonntagspredigten" (no. 11-12, Sept. 15, 
1914), under the title "Europe under German Leadership," 
Prof. Ostwald had expressed the hope that a union of 
the States of Europe might be formed with the German 
Emperor at its head, Germany with its superior military 
organization guaranteeing protection against the East. 
The issues of "Das Monistische Jahrhundert" dealing with 
this proposal were subsequently placed under an embargo : 
they were not permitted to be* sent out of Germany. See 
Grumbach, "Das Annexionistische Deutschland" (1917), 
P- 255. 

Aggressive Belgium 

A nation that acts as Belgium has acted has no 
right to complain because it is treated according 
to the law of war. Belgium, like a coward, stabbed 
Germany in the back; it is not Germany that at- 
tacked Belgium without provocation. 

Professor Daenell in the "Illustrierte Zeitung," Leipzig 
(November, 1914), no. 3726. 

56 



UTTERANCES OF MEN OF SCIENCE 

German historical claims in the Netherlands 

Alsace and a part of Lorraine have again been 
drawn into the rejuvenated Germany. . . . Shall 
Luxemburg and Flanders be forced to follow the 
same path as Alsace-Lorraine? We are not willing 
to forget that the Netherlands, of which Belgium is 
the southern part, are old German imperial terri- 
tory, and also, to a large extent, old possessions of 
the German people. . . . The present Holland was 
always Teutonic. The present Belgium ... is 
Teutonic territory up to a line running from the 
Meuse, halfway between Liege and Maestricht, in 
a fairly straight course to the neighborhood of Dun- 
kirk; of the famous cities that grew up in the fol- 
lowing centuries it includes Maestricht, Louvain, 
Malines, Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, Bruges, Cour- 
trai, Ostend and Ypres. . . . 

Prof. F. Rachfahl, "Belgien," in the "Internationale 
Monatsschrift fur Wissenschaft, Kunst und Technik" 
(March, 1915) ; reprinted in the "Preussische Kreuz- 
zeitung" (March 17, 1915). 



A lawyer's brief for Germany against Belgium 

The German General Staff, which always acts 
conscientiously, recognized that carrying the war 
through Belgium was necessary for the preserva- 
ton of Germany. No right is so inviolable that it 
must not yield to necessity; and in action dictated 
by necessity there is no violation of right (law), 
because right must needs give way by force of right 
(law) itself, inasmuch as every right is only rela- 

57 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

tive.* . . . Belgium and its royal house have richly 
deserved their disastrous fate. Whoever debases 
himself to act as a lackey for England, in order to 
fight Germany, deserves no better fate. Whoever 
fights against Germany, fights against culture; and 
whoever goes with people like Grey deserves de- 
struction. ... To the annexation of territory by 
reason of military success earlier relations oppose no 
barrier. . . . The irresistible force of military con- 
quest extends over the country and its inhabitants ; 
this is one of the first principles of international 
law. ... If anyone wishes to shed a tear over old 
times, he is at liberty to do so; policy weeps no 
such tears. 

Quite as little attention is to be paid to the exag- 
gerated sentiment that calls for a plebiscite, that 
demands that the voice of the population shall be 
heard declaring whether they desire to belong to 
one State or to another. . . . Territory takes its 
population with it; the individual who is dissatis- 
fied can leave the territory. . . . 

Least of all are we to listen to those who empha- 
size the difficulties that accrue to the conquering 
State as a result of annexation, because it will have 
to deal with alien elements that perhaps may prove 
rebellious. Such anticipations may alarm a weak 
and timid nation; a nation of youthful power will 
simply brush such difficulties aside. ... 

Whether in annexed territory a united popula- 
tion may be developed, which after decades may 

* In German the same word, Recht, is used for a right and 
for the law — ^which often confuses legal thinking and some- 
times disguises sophistry. 

58 



UTTERANCES OF MEN OF SCIENCE 

be more or less completely incorporated, remains 
an open question. ... As long as the hour to an- 
swer it has not yet struck, the population may 
receive local self-government, but it must always 
understand that the annexing State is master. 

In the case of nations a rational appeal amounts 
to very little. The driving powers of the national 
soul lie for the most part beneath the sill of 
rational consideration. Unintelligible impulses, 
catch-words, phrases, customs and traditions are 
more effective than any intelligent consideration 
of the situation. . . . Accordingly power against 
power, inexorable domination, psychological force 
against psychological resistance. . . . 

Prof. Joseph Kohler, in the "Tag" (March 30 and May 
31, 1915). Kohler, a member of the Law Faculty of 
Berlin University, is one of the most prolific and best 
known of German legal writers. He lectures, among 
other topics, on international law. 

The duties of the chosen people 

As the emblem of the Germans, the eagle, soars 
high above all the birds of the world, so the Ger- 
man should feel himself raised high above all the 
peoples who surround him and whom he sees at 
an immeasurable depth below him. 

Here also it is true that nobility imposes obli- 
gations. The idea that we are the chosen people 
imposes upon us very great duties — and only duties. 
Above all things in the world we must maintain 
ourselves as a strong nation. ... It is not our de- 
sire to conquer half-civilized or savage peoples, in 
order to fill them with the German spirit. . . . The 

59 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Englishman of course is able to colonize in this 
sense and to fill foreign peoples with his spirit. He 
has none, except the spirit of the trader. I can 
turn any man I like into a trader, and to diffuse 
English civilization is no difficult art. The great 
"genius for colonization" for which the English are 
praised is only an expression of their spiritual pov- 
erty ; but who would undertake to implant German 
culture in other nations? Heroism cannot be piped 
on like gas, wherever you like. We Germans will 
therefore always, and rightly, remain bad colon- 
izers. . . . 

We are determined to be and to remain a strong 
German nation and a strong German State ; and . . . 
if it is necessary to extend our territorial possessions 
so that the increasing body of the nation shall have 
room to develop itself, we will take for ourselves 
as much territory as seems to us necessary. We 
shall also set our foot wherever it seems to us 
important, for strategic reasons, in order to pre- 
serve our unassailable strength. That is all! . . . 

Prof. Werner Sombart, "Handler und Helden" (1915), 
pp. 143-144. 



Annexationist Petition of 352 professors 

. . . The military results already gained in this 
war at the cost of so great sacrifices should be 
utilized to the extreme attainable limit. This is the 
fixed determination of the German people. 

(i) France. . . . We must ruthlessly weaken 
this country politically and economically for the 
sake of our own existence, and we must improve 

60 



UTTERANCES OF MEN OF SCIENCE 

against her our strategical position. For this pur- 
pose, according to our conviction, a thorough im- 
provement of our whole west front from Belfort 
to the coast is necessary. We must conquer as 
great a part as possible of the North-French Chan- 
nel coast, in order to obtain greater strategical 
security against England and a better outlet to the 
ocean. . . . 

To avoid such conditions as exist in Alsace-Lor- 
raine, the enterprises and possessions that give 
economic power are to be transferred from hostile 
to German hands, the previous owners being taken 
over and compensated by France. To the part of 
the population that we take over no influence what- 
ever in the Empire is to be conceded. . . . 

We must also remember that this country has 
disproportionately large colonial possessions, and 
that England can indemnify herself in these posses- 
sions if we do not anticipate her. 

(2) Belgium. . . . We must keep Belgium firmly 
in our hands as regards political and military mat- 
ters and as regards economic interests. In no mat- 
ter is the German nation more united in its opinion : 
to it the retention of Belgium is an undubitable 
matter of honor. 

. . . Belgium will bring us an immense increase 
of economic power. As regards population, she 
may also give us an important increase, particu- 
larly if the Flemish element, which in its culture 
is so closely related to us, can in course of time 
be freed from the artificial Latinizing influences 
that surround it and be brought back to its Teu- 
tonic character. 

61 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

... To the inhabitants of Belgium no political 
influence in the Empire is to be conceded; and, as 
in the districts to be ceded by France, the most 
important enterprises and landed estates are to be 
transferred from hostile to German hands. 

(3) Russia. On our eastern frontier the popula- 
tion of the Russian Empire is increasing at a 
monstrous rate — at a rate of something like two 
and one-half millions a year. Within a generation 
the population will amount to 250,000,000. Against 
this overwhelming preponderance on our eastern 
flank . . . Germany can assert herself only if she 
sets up a strong barrier . . . and if on the other 
hand the healthy growth of our own population 
is furthered by all possible means. Such a barrier 
and also a basis for safeguarding the growth of our 
own population are to be found in the territory that 
Russia must cede to us. This must be agricultural 
land, adapted to settlement. Land, that gives us 
a healthy peasantry, this fresh fountain of all 
national and political power. Land, that can take 
over a part of our increase of population and offer 
to returning Germans, who desire to turn their 
backs upon the hostile foreign world, a new home 
in the old home. . . . Such land, required for our 
physical, moral and spiritual health, is to be found 
first of all in the East. . . . 

This land will also serve to defray the Russian 
war indemnity. . . Russia is over-rich in land, and 
the land of which she is to cede us political control 
we shall demand . . . freed for the most part from 
private titles. . - . The Russian population is not 
so strongly rooted in the land as is that of western 

62 



UTTERANCES OF MEN OF SCIENCE 

and central Europe. Russia itself has repeatedly 
transplanted large parts of its population to remote 
districts. . . . 

(4) England, the East, Colonies and the World 
across the Seas. . . . We admit that the blockade 
by which England has transformed Germany dur- 
ing the period of the war into a closed commercial 
State has taught us something. It has taught us 
above all that, as has been explained in the earlier 
sections of this memorial, we must make ourselves 
as independent as possible in all political, military 
and economic matters, on the basis of an expanded 
and better secured home territory in Europe. Sim- 
ilarly we must organize upon the Continent, in im- 
mediate connection with our land frontiers . . . 
the broadest possible continental economic domain. 
. . . For this purpose it is important permanently 
to secure Austria-Hungary, the Balkans, Turkey 
and Asia Minor to the Persian Gulf against Russian 
and English ambitions. . . . 

In the next place it is important to secure, in de- 
spite of England, our reentry into the economic 
world beyond the seas. ... In Africa we must re- 
build our Colonial Empire more solidly and more 
strongly than before. . . . Here again the impor- 
tance of a permanent connection with the world 
of Islam makes itself felt, and also the necessity 
of secure passage over the seas . . . independent of 
the good or ill will of England. . . . 

It has already been pointed out that we must 
keep Belgium firmly under our control and must 
also obtain as much as possible of the North 
French Channel coast. It is important, besides, 

63 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

to break up the chain of maritime bases which Eng- 
land has thrown about the world or to enfeeble it 
by a corresponding acquisition of German bases. 

Egypt, which connects English Africa with Eng- 
lish Asia and, with Australia as a further barrier, 
converts the Indian Ocean into an English lake — - 
Egypt, which maintains the connection between 
the mother country and all its oriental colonies, is, 
as Bismarck expressed it, the neck of the English 
World Empire. . . . There England may oS struck 
in its most vital nerve. . . . 

(5) War indemnity. ... It is probably France 
that comes into consideration, primarily if not ex- 
clusively, as regards any financial indemnification 
for the costs of the war. We should not hesitate, 
from any false humanity, to burden France as 
heavily as possible. To ease the burden imposed 
upon her she may call upon her ally across the 
Channel. If the latter refuses to fulfill her duties 
as an ally financially, a secondary political result 
might be attained with which we could well be 
content. . . . 

(6) No policy of culture without a policy of 
power. If the undersigned, and particularly the 
men of science, of art and of the church among 
them, should be reproached for setting up only po- 
litical, economic and perhaps social demands and 
forgetting the purely spiritual problems of the Ger- 
man future, our answer is a three-fold one. 

The care of the German spirit is not one of the 
aims of war nor one of the conditions of peace. 

If, however, we are to say anything concerning 
the German spirit . . . first of all, Germany must 

64 



UTTERANCES OF MEN OF SCIENCE 

be able to live in political and economic security 
before it can pursue its spiritual vocation in free- 
dom. 

Finally . . . we do not desire a German spirit that 
is in danger of suffering decomposition and of work- 
ing also as a decomposing agency — a national spirit 
that, lacking root, is forced to seek a home in all 
countries, and to seek it in vain ; that must every- 
where adapt itself and falsify its own nature as well 
as the nature of the nations that grant it hospitality. 
... In our demands we are seeking to gain for the 
German spirit a healthy body. . . . 

We are conscious of setting up goals that can be 
reached only through a resolute spirit of sacrifice 
and through most energetic diplomacy. But we in- 
voke a saying of Bismarck's: 

"More than in any other domain it is true in 
politics that faith tangibly removes mountains, that 
courage and victory are not causally connected but 
identical." 

Petition to the Imperial Chancellor, voted June 20, 
1915, at a meeting of professors, diplomatists and higher 
officials in active service, held in the Kiinstlerhaus at 
Berlin. It was handed in with the signatures of 352 
professors of universities and of special schools of the 
same rank, 158 school teachers and clergymen, 145 su- 
perior administrative officers, mayors and city councilmen, 
148 judges and advocates, 40 members of the Reichstag 
and of the Prussian Landtag, 18 retired admirals and 
generals, 182 representatives of industry, commerce and 
banking, 52 landed proprietors, and 252 artists, writers 
and publishers. It was circulated only as a "strictly con- 
fidential manuscript." The full text is given in Grum- 

6s 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

bach, "Das annexionistische Deutschland" (1917), pp. 
132-140. 

A "decent form of death" for Belgium 

"Weighed in the balance and found wanting." 
This was the sentence of condemnation for Bel- 
gium's immediate future. Threatened simultane- 
ously by social revolt and national disintegration, 
the Belgian State would sooner or later have per- 
ished by internal decomposition. The German con- 
quest gave Belgium all that it could hope for — a 
decent form of death among the Powers of the 
world, although it never belonged to them. . . . 

Prof. Conrad Bornhak, in the "Grenzboten," no. 26 
(June 30, 1915), p. 405. 

Land wanted for 200,000,000 Germans 

Only 200,000,000 Germans will be strong enough 
to protect German freedom in the year 2000! . . . 
We need an increase of medium and small agricul- 
tural estates, and of positions for agricultural la- 
borers and for artisans, on the largest scale. . . . 
New land for settlement within the future bound- 
aries of the Empire is a demand that must become 
for all Germans a word of deliverance ! 

Prof. Max von Gruber, in "Siiddeutsche Monatshefte," 
special number, "Deutschlands Zukunft" (October, 1915), 
PP- 55, 56. 

What Germans need "belongs" to them 

Africa is a continent in the making. Its future 
is rich and full of prospects. ... A nation that 

66 



UTTERANCES OF MEN OF SCIENCE 

has won for itself through its own efficiency so 
important a place in commerce and industry as the 
Germans have secured cannot possibly stand aside, 
as it used to do, while other nations, by nature 
much less industrious, try to secure for themselves 
in the coming redivision of Africa the lion's share. 
We mean at last to get what belongs to us, because 
we need it, because we cannot do without it in the 
vital interest of ourselves and our children. And 
therefore we shall obtain it, thanks to the bravery 
of our armies and the justice of our claims. 

Prof. Karl Dove, in "Weltwirtschaft," no. 8 (Nov., 
1915)- 

"No annexations, no indemnities" means Germany's 
defeat 

In reply to suggestions made in the British House of 
Lords, November 8, 1915, by Lord Loreburn and Lord 
Courtney concerning terms of peace, viz. : evacuation of 
Belgium and of Northern France, waiver of any war 
indemnity, freedom of the seas: 

For us these suggestions do not even furnish a 
basis for discussion, because the conditions which 
the two lords have suggested for peace negotia- 
tions presuppose the victory of England and the 
defeat of Germany. 

Prof. Otto Hoetzsch, in the "Preussische Kreuzzei- 
tung," Nov. 17, 1915. 

Government of new "outer territories'* 

May our boundaries be pushed as far forward 
as our own future security requires and as our 
power to defend them permits; but as regards the 

67 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

inner structure of our State these outer territories 
must not be permitted to exercise any influence, un- 
til they have themselves to some extent grown into 
German ways and have thus become capable of 
being members of a German national State. 

Prof. E. Brandenburg, "Die Reich sgriindung" (1916), 
[ntroduction. 

A pastor on the sinking of the "Lusitania** 

Anyone who cannot bring himself to approve 
from the bottom of his heart the sinking of the 
Lusitania, who cannot conquer his sense of the 
monstrous cruelty to countless perfectly innocent 
victims . . . and give himself up to honest joy at 
this victorious exploit of German defensive power 
— such an one we deem no true German. 

Pastor D. Baumgarten, "Deutsche Reden in schwerer 
Zeit," no. 25, p. 7. 

Professional frightfulness 

[Neutral ships should be intimidated into remain- 
ing in their home ports, so that the British would 
be compelled to risk their own ships.] Such a 
reaction against British tonnage would be more 
quickly enforced if fewer crews of torpedoed neu- 
tral ships were saved. If neutrals were destroyed 
so that they disappeared without leaving any trace, 
terror would soon keep seamen and travelers away 
from the danger zones and thus save many lives. 

Prof. Oswald Flamm, in the Berlin "Woche"; cited in 
the New York "Times" (May 15, 1917). 



CHAPTER IV 

UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS, MEN OF LETTERS 
AND JOURNALISTS 



L BEFORE THE WORLD WAR 

Superiority and mission of the Teutons 

After all, it is obviously the meaning of history 
that the white race under the leadership of the 
Teutons should attain a real and definitive domina- 
tion of the world. 

The "Zukunft" (Sept. 7, 1901); cited in "Juges par 
eux-memes," p. 32. 

The most distinguished men in modern spiritual 
history were for the most part Teutons of the full 
blood, such as Diirer, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, 
Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyck, Voltaire, Kant, 
Wagner. Others show an intermixture of the bru- 
nette race ... as in the case of Dante, Raphael, 
Michael Angelo, Shakespeare, Luther, Goethe, Bee- 
thoven. . . . Dante, Raphael, Luther and the others 
were geniuses not because of but in spite of their 
mixed blood. Their endowment was an inheri- 
tance from the Teutonic race. 

The numerous busts of Julius Caesar show a thor- 
oughly Teutonic type of skull and of face. Alex- 

69 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

ander the Great was of the general Macedonian 
type: very white skin with rosy lights, Teutonic 
type of skull and face, reddish hair and dark blue 
eyes. 

The entire European civilization, even in Slav 
and Latin countries, is the work of the Teutonic 
race. . . . The Papacy, the Renaissance, the French 
Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire were 
achievements of the Teutonic spirit. 

Napoleon was probably a descendant of the Van- 
dals, who long ago overran Corsica. 

Papacy and Empire are both Teutonic organiza- 
tions for domination, meant to subjugate the world. 
The Teutonic race is called to circle the earth with 
its rule, to exploit the treasures of nature and of 
human labor power, and to make the passive races 
servient elements in its cultural development. 

Ludwig Woltmann, "Politische Anthropologie" (1903), 
pp. 255, 290, 293, 294, 298. 

The dominating Teuton has a fresh and clear 
complexion, blond hair, an imposing stature and a 
long cranium. 

The Teutons are the aristocracy of humanity ; the 
Latins, on the contrary, belong to the degenerate 
mob. 

Racine, with his medium height, his pleasant 
features, his clear look, his gentle and lively face — 
Racine was unquestionably of the Teutonic race. 
Lesueur, full of dignity and grace, with an open 
countenance testifying to a soul above the com- 
mon level, certainly belonged to this same race. 
Voltaire was of the Teutonic race; moreover, is 

70 



UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

not his family name, Arouet, a corruption of the 
German name, Arwid? The name of Diderot was 
a corruption of the name Tictroh. As for Gounod, 
his name alone testiifies to his Teutonic origin, for 
it is simply a derivative of Gundiwald. 

Ludwig Woltmann, "Die Germanen in Frankreich," 
cited in "J^S^s par eux-memes," p. 35. 

Montaigne had a rosy complexion and blond hair. 
Voltaire also had blond hair and blue eyes ; besides, 
he was tall. Lafayette also was tall and had 
blond hair and blue eyes. . . . Danton was blond 
and had blue eyes ; so had the giant Mirabeau. . . . 

All the great Frenchmen are in their cranial for- 
mation and in their pigment of the Teutonic 
type. ... 

Whosoever has the characteristics of the Teu- 
tonic race is superior. . . . All the dark i>eople are 
mentally inferior, because they belong to the pas- 
sive races. . . . The cultural value of a nation is 
measured by the quantity of Teutonism it contains. 

Ludwig Woltmann, "Politische Anthropologic," cited 
in "Juges par eux-memes," pp. 35-36. 



Especial superiority of the Germans 

We are beyond all doubt the first of all the na- 
tions of the world as warriors. For two centuries, 
German power upheld the decaying Roman Em- 
pire ; for only by Germans could the primal German 
vigor be broken. In seven great battles of the na- 
tions, in the Teutoburg forest, on the Catalonian 
plain, at Tours, and at Poitiers, on the banks of the 

71 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Lech, before Vienna against the Turks, and at Wa- 
terloo, we rescued European civilization. 

We are the most capable nation in every field 
of science and in every branch of the fine arts. We 
are the best colonists, the best mariners and even 
the best merchants. 

And yet we do not enter into our share of the 
heritage of the world. . . . 

That the German Empire is not the close but the 
beginning of our national development is an ob- 
vious truth that as yet is by no means a common 
treasure of all Germans, but only of a small body 
of cultured men . , . men of heart and of under- 
standing, 

Fritz Bley, "Die Weltstellung des Deutschtums" 
(1897), pp. 21, 22. 

Plans of expansion in Europe 

It is not to be denied that thoughts of aggres- 
sion cannot be kept out of pan-Germanism. If 
German/ is to be hammer, there must be hitting.* 

To live, to lead a healthy and happy life, we need 
great tracts of new arable land. With these Im- 
perialism can cmd must provide us. . . . Germany 
will be able to harvest the fruits of Russian policy, 
provided her courage does not fail her. ... Of 
what use to us is Germanism in Brazil or South 
Africa, however successfully it may develop? It 
will greatly help the expansion of the German race ; 

*An allusion to the phrase in Prince von Bulow's speech, 
Dec. II, 1899: "In the twentieth century Germany will be 
anvil or hammer." Biilow, "Reden," vol. i, p. 96. 

72 



UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

it will do little for the power of the German Em- 
pire. On the other hand, increase of German con- 
tinental territory and of the number of Germars 
peasants, whose industry and efficiency are incom- 
parably superior to the indolent dullness of the 
moujik, will form a protective barrier against the 
flood of our enemies and will give a firm founda- 
tion to our growing power. 

Albrecht Wirth, "Volkstum und Weltmacht in der 
Geschichte" (1906), pp. 176, 235. 

There is no other role for Austria than to become 
Germany's colonial State. All the peoples in this 
broad empire, except the Germans and the South 
Slavs, are politically equally worthless: they are 
only material for German reconstruction. . . . 
Hungary is a bundle of impossibilities. . . , The 
necessity imposed upon the Austrian of speaking 
and writing four or five languages is quite enough 
to retard his development. . . . The task of Aus- 
trian policy is simply this: to draw to itself all 
emigrants from Germany and to settle them in 
compact groups, first of all upon the remotest 
boundaries of the Empire. . . , The Jablunka is to 
hear no speech but the German; and from there 
the wave must roll south, until of all the pitiful, 
petty nationalities of the Empire not one is left. 

Paul de Lagarde, "Deutsche Schriften" (1891), pp. iii, 
112. 

Austria, that political abortion, that mummified 
survivor from the confusion of tongues at Babel, 
will perish if our schemes materialize. 

Friedrich Lange, "Reines Deutschtum," p. 208. 
73 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Should this old Austria perish, we would not 
shed a single tear over the corpse of the monster. 

Daszinski, Speech delivered in 1903, cited in "J^&^s par 
eux-memes/* p. 35. 

The time will come, undoubtedly, when Ger- 
many will be able to lay hands upon the ruins of 
the State of the Hapsburgs; and we must be pre- 
pared for this. 

Ernst Hasse, "Deutsche Grenzpolitik," p. 164. 

From a military point of view, the German 
frontiers on the East as on the West do not meet 
the demands of the best possible protection against 
attack. From a political and national point of view 
it is even more serious that Germany has weak 
neighbors, who are exposed to pressure from other 
powers and to anti-German influences. Above all, 
from the point of view of economics and of eco- 
nomic geography, it is monstrous that the mouths 
of two of Germany's greatest rivers, the Danube 
and the Rhine — ^the latter the main artery of the 
country's commerce — and a number of the ports 
most important for her international trade should 
be in alien hands. 

Ernst von Halle, "Volks- und See-Wirtschaft" (1902), 
vol. ii, pp. 3-4. 

Philosophy of expansion 

A nation's field of labor, its land, must satisfy 
its people as to character, quality and extent. If it 
is not satisfactory, the nation must stretch itself, 
extend itself over the territory of others and gain 
new land in the selective struggle. 

74 



UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

The native race, if in a low stage of development, 
generally soon dies out. . . . Highly developed peo- 
ples, who are unwilling to amalgamate with the 
victors, can be forced into reservations; or the 
victors will leave to the subjugated peoples a por- 
tion of their territory to which they can all retire. 
. . . The Latin countries are retrograding, if slow- 
ly, yet steadily. ... It requires no supernatural 
gift of prophecy to perceive that in course of time 
the Latin peoples will be weeded out. 

Increase of population is not to be restricted. 
A nation should push hard on its limits of land 
and sustenance through its increasing numbers. 
Only when men and nations jostle and push in bit- 
ter competition over the surface of the earth, can 
selection prevail between men and nations. . . . 
This is the deep meaning of a rapid increase of 
population: it drives the courageous, joyous, pow- 
erful nation forward and forces it into a great fu- 
ture. The incapable, indolent nation is crushed. 

It would be unjust and immoral if a noble na- 
tion were to restrict its increase of population be- 
cause of lack of room . . . while lower races have 
room to spare. That would be race-suicide. 

Klaus Wagner, "Krieg" (1906), pp. 47, 69, 70, 81, 86, 
108. 



Christ and Darwin 

The old churchmen preached of war as a just 
judgment of God. The modern natural scientists 
see in war a propitious mode of selection. They 
use different phrases, but they mean the same 

75 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

thing. A saying of the much misunderstood Jesus, 
himself supreme in the comprehension of life — a 
saying whose profound Avisdom Darwin has again 
enabled us to grasp — is the concise expression of all 
development: "Many are called, but few are 
chosen." 

Wagner, ibid., pp. 145, 146. 

"Precautionary war" 

It often happens that States, that for the moment 
are self-sufficient and have no immediate need of 
expansion . . . must nevertheless start a war. This 
becomes a necessity if a foreign power is gaining 
extensive expansion and is menacing other nations. 
To check an over-powerful and dangerous rival 
State, that is grasping too much territory, and to 
despoil it of a part of its booty, which the attacking 
nation may need later, is a struggle for the national 
future, for unity, independence and free soil. It is 
a precautionary war. 

Wagner, ibid., pp. 116, 117. 

Forecasts of the German World War 

It is quite possible that German regiments may 
march over the Indus to the Ganges; that German 
troops and Turkish divisions under German gen- 
eral-staff officers may block the Suez Canal and, 
passing through English Egypt, join hands with the 
Khedive, now an English protege, for a general 
revolt of Islam. It is quite possible that in South 
Africa probabilities may become facts. It is quite 
possible that the black, white and red flag may 

.76 



UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

wave on the towers of Rotterdam and of Calais, and 
that German war taxes and forced loans will be 
levied from Paris — a world war such as the sun has 
never shone upon. 

Wagner, ibid.y pp. 115, 116. 

If it must come to a breach [with France] we 
will defy fate and secure for ourselves all of the 
advantages of the attack. Moral right is on our 
side. . . . The victorious German people will be 
entitled to demand that the French menace shall 
cease finally and forever. That means : France must 
be crushed. . . . Few indeed will be the Germans 
who will not regret the overthrow of the French 
nation ; but they will be able to do little more than 
say compassionately : ''Tu Vas voulu, Georges Dan- 
dinr 

The fratricidal war of 1866 was necessary for 
the establishment of the German Empire; why 
should recognition of our world position be as- 
sured to us without fighting our English cousin? 

As regards Belgium and Holland ... it may be 
said openly that such little States have lost any 
absolute right to exist; for today only those States 
can assert a right to independence that can secure 
it sword in hand. 

The monarchy of the Hapsburgs will be friendly 
to Germany or it will cease to exist. 

Daniel Frymann, "Wenn ich Kaiser war"" (1912), pp. 
151. 152, 153, 167. 

Even a coalition of France and Russia can be 
defeated by our forces alone, if without hesitation 

77 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

and without scruples we rise in war to a greater 
use of violence. 

"Deutschland bei Beginn des Zwauzigsten Jahrhun- 
'derts" (1900), p. 212. 

Schemes of World Empire 

It would be the beginning of a World Empire, 
our first Empire of the sort, if to East Africa, 
Cameroon and Southeast Africa we should add 
Angola and the Belgian and French Congo. . . . 
In the way of this first World Empire stand Portu- 
gal, France and England. Portugal and France will 
be the mourners. England will not be able to hin- 
der it. This will not be accomplished today nor 
tomorrow; but a day will come when Europe will 
settle her accounts. On that day the reservists of 
Nimes will go on strike, if the sons of the German 
heroes of Metz and of Sedan attack them in rainy 
weather. On that day the English Channel will 
be paved with French submarines of the success- 
ful Pluvio'Sj type, if the German dreadnoughts 
bombard the French ports of the North Sea. 

. . . Our fathers have left us much to do. In 
compensation, the German nation holds a position 
among the European Powers that permits it at 
once to reach its goal by a single rapid rush. At 
the present time, the German nation finds itself in 
a position similar to that of Prussia at the begin- 
ning of the reign of Frederick the Great. He raised 
his country to the rank of a great European Power. 
It is Germany's task today to pass from the posi- 

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UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

tion of an European Power to that of a World 
Power. 

The German people must take possession of Cen- 
tral Africa, from the mouth of the Orange River to 
Lake Tchad, and from the Cameroon Mountains to 
the mouth of the River Rovuna. They must take 
possession of Asia Minor; of the Malayan Archi- 
pelago in southeastern Asia; and finally of the 
southern half of South America. Only then will 
Germany possess a colonial empire that will cor- 
respond to her actual power. 

A policy of sentiment is folly. Enthusiasm for 
humanity is idiocy. Charity should begin among 
one's compatriots. Politics is business. Right and 
wrong are notions needed in civil life only. 

The German people is always right, because it is 
the German people and because it numbers 87,000,- 
000. Our fathers have left us much to do. 

Otto Richard von Tannenberg, "Grossdeutschland : Die 
Aufgabe des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts" (1911), pp. 219, 
220, 230, 231, 

II. WHEN WAR WAS IN SIGHT 

"A golden Teutonic opportunity" 

Written in 1913, when Austria was threatening Serbia 
and, according to revelations made in 1914 by Signor 
Giolitti, had sounded the Italian Foreign Office as to the 
attitude which Italy would assume if the Dual Monarchy 
should make war on Serbia. 

Hasten, drowsy guardians of the State, to con- 
clude a treaty assuring to Austria the road to the 
JEgean. The fate of Europe rests with you. . . . 

79 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Has Berlin, like Vienna, lost the courage of deci- 
sion? ... It must be said, even more energetically 
than in 1909, that if it comes to a fight it will be 
for a German interest and not for a caprice of 
Vienna. . . . Austria would be only too glad to 
settle her differences in a peaceful manner, but to 
urge her to compromise is to throw away a golden 
Teutonic opportunity. . . . Today Prussia is re- 
sponsible for the destiny of all Germany, and we 
are constrained to fear that we have already let 
slip an occasion that will never return. ... In 
southeastern Europe the role of Austria is simply to 
promote the German cause. . . . 

The nation is unanimous in its complaints. Bis- 
marck would have never made the mistake of ask- 
ing for his country a military equipment sufficiently 
powerful to fight England, France and the Slav 
masses, only to keep it unemployed during long 
years of peace. . . . 

It is by their own force that the descendants of 
the ancient Cimbri will come out of the war vic- 
torious, and not with the help of God, as William 
II has just declared in a speech delivered in the 
University of Berlin, on Divine intervention in his- 
tory. It is not true that God withholds victory 
from the irreligious. Frederic II was frankly an 
atheist; he said that religion is a tool that has al- 
ways been employed to make men submissive, and 
he swore that God is always with the strongest 
battalions. 

Maximilian Harden, in the "Zukunft"; cited in "Jngts 
par eux-memes," pp. 41-42. 

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UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

A war of expansion 

If we are prevented from expanding with our 
needs, we shall have to draw the sword; and then 
. . . woe to the vanquished ! 

The Munich "Post," cited in the New York "Nation," 
July 9, 1914. 

Who willed the war? 

. . . Germany endeavored to act as mediator in 
the Austro-Russian conflict. In this effort she was 
supported by England, France and Italy, because 
all these Powers, as is clearly shown by the atti- 
tude of their Governments and also by the expres- 
sions of public opinion, wished to avoid a great 
European war. But it appears that the localization 
of the Austro-Serbian conflict cannot be secured 
and that we are at the beginning of that great Eu- 
ropean war of which there has been so much talk, 
but in which no one seriously believed until today. 
The ''Frankfurter Zeitung" (July 31, 1914). It was 
on this day that the German Imperial Government sent 
its ultimatum to the Russian Imperial Government. 



The anticipated fruits of victory 

France must pay the greater part of the bill. . . . 
Besides Belfort, France must cede to us that part 
of Lorraine that is bounded by the Moselle and, in 
case of obstinate resistance, also the part bounded 
by the Meuse. If we make the Moselle and the 
Meuse German boundary rivers, the French will 
perhaps some day get rid of the desire of making 

81 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

the Rhine a French boundary river. ... If Belgium 
takes part in the war, it is to be wiped off the map. 
... If the Netherlands come into Germany as a 
federated State, perhaps with a few more reserved 
rights than Bavaria possesses — after a victory of 
Germany the Dutch could do nothing wiser — there 
might be occasion to consider the entire or partial 
incorporation of Flemish Belgium in the Nether- 
lands. The Belgian Congo would fall to Germany ; 
and thus the idea of a German Middle Africa would 
be realized. . . . 

... To bring to our German brethren in Austria, 
whose eyes have so long been turned toward us, 
the redemption for which they have so earnestly 
yearned, is a goal fully worthy of the greatest ef- 
fort, a goal that we must in any case attain, a goal 
that we can attain even in the event of a war com- 
pletely lost. Thus the parts of Austria that were 
formerly pure German districts (old Austria) must 
from now on be exclusively reserved for German- 
ism ; and in addition a broad strip of territory, from 
Carinthia down to Istria, which will give Germany 
an immediate outlet on the Adriatic, must be de- 
clared to be a district reserved for German settle- 
ment. . . . Norway and Sweden (to which Finland 
might be added) and Switzerland (possibly en- 
larged by portions of Savoy) will necessarily seek 
the protection of Germany and enter into a con- 
federate relation similar to that of Austria. Den- 
mark can have the strip of North Schleswig for 
which it yearns if, like the Netherlands, it becomes 
a State in the German Empire. Then, as the lead- 

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UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

ing power in a great Teutonia, Grermany, after this 
war, will enter upon the rule of the world. . . . 

Rudolf Theuden, "Was muss uns der Krieg bringen" 
(1914), pp. 9-10, 12-13. 

III. SINCE THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 

Germany's right and Germany's aims 

Germany has the right to extend the area of her 
dominion according to her needs, and the power to 
obtain this right against all contradiction. . . . 

The English, Belgians, French, North and South 
Slavs and Japanese are praising each other as pos- 
sessors and guardians of the most refined human 
civilization and abusing us as barbarians. We should 
be fools to contradict. To Rome, at the point of 
death, the Germans who were digging her grave 
were barbarians. Your civilization, gossips, wafts 
to us no sweet savor. Get used, as soon as you can, 
to recognize that on German soil barbarians and 
warriors are living. They have now no time to 
waste on small talk. They must thrash your 
armies, capture your general staffs, strew your 
cuttle-fish arms over the ocean. When Tangiers and 
Toulon, Antwerp and Calais are subject to their 
barbaric power, then they will often be glad to 
have a friendly chat with you. . . . 

Krupp has given us the hope not only of get- 
ting at England in her floating castles, but also of 
camping widely, before her face, wry with envy, 
on two seas, on the coasts of Belgium, France and 

83 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Morocco. That Germans do not fit into the bustle 
of peaceable nations is the proudest ornament of 
the German character. Their manhood does not 
feminize itself in long peace. War has always been 
their chief business. . . . Germany means to grow, 
to coin the achievements of its men and its States 
into rights of sovereignty before which every head 
must bow in reverent greeting. Germany is strik- 
ing. Who gave her leave? Her right is in her 
might. Therefore she is waging a good war. . . . 
For the English things are already going badly. 
. . . From Calais to Dover is not far. Do you doubt 
our being able to reach them ? With such an army 
anything can be done. And before they receive 
their punishment there will be no peace. . . . 

We are not waging war to punish countries, nor 
to free enslaved peoples and then warm ourselves 
in the consciousness of our unselfish nobility. We 
are waging war because of our solid conviction 
that Germany, in view of her achievements, has 
the right to demand and must obtain more room 
on the earth and a broader sphere of action. . . . 
Spain and the Netherlands, Rome and Hapsburg, 
France and England seized, ruled, settled great ex- 
panses of the most fertile soil. Now the hour has 
struck for German supremacy. A peace that does 
not secure this will leave our efforts unrewarded. 
. . . We shall stay in the Belgian lowlands, to 
which we shall add the narrow coast strip to and 
beyond Calais. . . . From Calais to Antwerp, 
Flanders, Limburg and Brabant, up to and includ- 
ing the chain of forts on the Meuse, are to be 

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UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

Prussian. . . . The southern triangle, with Alsace- 
Lorraine (and Luxemburg, if it likes), is to be 
shaped into an independent State of the Empire, 
intrusted to a Catholic princely house — a new 
Lotharingia. Then Germany would know for what 
purpose she has shed her blood. 

Maximilian Harden, in the "Zukunft" (August 29; 
September 5; October 17, 1914). Cited by Grumbach, 
"Das annexionistische Deutschland" (1917), pp. 239- 
241. ' 

Germany willed the war 

One principle only is to be reckoned with — one 
which sums up and includes all others — force ! 
Boast of that and scorn all twaddle. Force! that 
is what rings loud and clear; that is what has dis- 
tinction and fascination. Force, the fist — that is 
everything. . . . Let us drop our pitiable efforts to 
excuse Germany's action; let us cease heaping con- 
temptible insults upon the enemy. Not against our 
will were we thrown into this gigantic adventure. 
It was not imposed on us by surprise. We willed 
it; we were bound to will it. We do not appear 
before the tribunal of Europe ; we do not recognize 
any such jurisdiction. 

Our force will create a new law in Europe. It is 
Germany that strikes. When it shall have con- 
quered new fields for its genius, then the priests of 
all the gods will exalt the war as blessed. 

Harden in the "Zukunft" (August-October, 1914) ; 
cited in "Juges par eux-memes," pp. 46-47. See also 
extracts in the New York "Times" (Dec. 6, 1914). 

85 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Germans "no persecuted innocents" 

The course of events in the last decades and the 
way in which our policy has been conducted have 
made it absolutely clear that the just claims of 
Germany cannot be satisfied in a peaceable manner. 

. . . The war . . . forces each of us ... to be- 
come conscious of the purpose for which it is being 
waged : the entrance of Germany into the company 
of great imperialistic nations and the enforcement 
of the demands which it is entitled to make as a 
World Power. . . . This war is being carried on to 
make Germany greater and more powerful than it 
was before. The only alternative is to attain this 
result or to fall back into the position of a second- 
rate Power. . . . The clarity of this thought, the 
justice of this demand are not to be obscured by 
discussions of the question, who is to blame for 
the origin of this war. Whoever depicts Germany 
as a country assailed and placed in a state of neces- 
sity, is apt to overlook the fact that we had a just 
demand to assert and put through, and that we must 
necessarily appear, to those who would deny us a 
place among the Great Powers, as the assailants. 
History will show that our enemies refused to recog- 
nize these claims and so conjured up the war; it 
will also show that the war was an internal neces- 
sity. It does not become us to play the part of 
persecuted innocents. We must confess our de- 
mands freely and manfully, and we must carry on 
the fight until they are satisfied. . . . 

"Darius" in "Grenzboten," no. 6 (Feb. lo, 1915), pp. 
161 et seq. 

86 



UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

"The will to power" 

History has found it easier to forgive any cruel- 
ties than to pardon a failure of the will to power. 
Not "Live and let live" but "Live and direct the 
lives of others" — that is power. To bring others 
under our reasonable influence, in order to put in- 
ternational relations on a better basis — that is puri- 
fied power. 

Karl Peters, "Not und Weg" (1915), pp. 13-14. 

"A Holy German Empire" 

More and more there must be developed quiet de- 
termination to establish a Holy German Empire. 
A nation that fans again into flame the old breath 
of God in the spirit of the present time, that is holy 
in itself and carries holiness to other nations — 
that, my German people, you must become. If 
you do not, then your aspirations are bubbles and 
your great period lies behind you. 

... Is a mighty Germany to give laws to Eu- 
rope, is it to make a growing holiness of life the 
law of peace for its neighbors? Will it in union 
with them offer defiance to the rest of the world? 

If that is our chosen course, then we must not 
be timid as regards the will to power. It is foolish 
to talk of the rights of others ; it is foolish to speak 
of a justice that should hinder us from doing to 
others what we ourselves do not wish to suffer 
from them. . . . 

We are still constantly hearing of moderation, 
of the right of nations to determine their own des- 

87 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

tiny, but all this is of no consequence. We under- 
stand what is necessary. We must grow stronger. 

Peters, ibid,, pp. 64-68. 

"Kultur" 

Culture is a spiritual organization of the world, 
which does not exclude bloody savagery. It raises 
the daemonic to sublimity. It is above morality, 
reason, science. 

Thomas Mann, in the "Neue Rundschau" (Nov., 1914) ; 
cited in "Jug€s par eux-memes," p. 22. 



Retaliatory lying 

Under the constraining necessity of present con- 
ditions, we are often obliged to stray from the right 
path ; but when the arms of our soldiers shall have 
overthrown those who are likewise lying, we will 
gladly go back to our habits of veracity. 

"Kolnische Zeitung" (Dec. 28, 1914) ; cited in "J^ges 
par eux-memes," pp. 88-89. 

Spirit and form of German Imperialism 

... If we conquer, the map of the world will be 
redrawn. This change is quite certain, and all writ- 
ing against it is empty and of no effect. . . . 

. . . We must joyfully accustom ourselves to a 
transition from the old, solidly closed National 
State, with a few foreign nationalities in its border 
districts, to an Imperialist State with a greater 
mixture of nationalities. In this, the one element 
of union remains the German Idea. ... In this 

88 



UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

State the German people are to tower high above 
the other nationalities; it is to be a German State, 
no washed-out universality. . . . 

Today nothing is more urgent than this — that 
the will to conquer the world should take posses- 
sion of the whole German people. Then first shall 
we arise from the stage of a semi-unconscious 
World Power to the stage of a conscious Imperial- 
ist Power. Then first can we hold our own against 
England. . . . 

The final inference is that, cost what it may, we 
must widen our continental territory in this war. 
... It is not enough to bring new territories into 
a customs union, we must be masters of these new 
territories also in military and diplomatic affairs. 

. . . The only legal form of connection that is 
appropriate to a World State is the confederation. 
Formal annexation of districts which, for strategic 
or cultural reasons, must absolutely be brought into 
the closest connection with the dominant State is 
of course not excluded. Take, for example, Bel- 
gium. Were this country simply annexed, we 
should have a second Poland in the West. ... If, 
however, only the line Liege-Namur were held as a 
strategic line, with the addition of Antwerp, and if 
the rest of Belgium were left to administer itself 
and brought into a federative relation only to the 
German Empire, then we should have full security 
for the good behavior of the country, and we 
should also have the Belgian coast for all time 
as a military base and a bridgehead against Eng- 
land, but we should avoid making Belgium feel 

89 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

itself a subjugated country. ... If we keep Ant- 
werp, it would be a good plan to arrange with 
Holland an exchange, by which we should receive 
the mouth of the Scheldt, while Holland would re- 
ceive the Belgian part of Limburg. . . . 

If we are asked whether we wish to establish a 
World Power towering so far above the other 
World Powers that it is in reality the only real 
World Power, then the answer is that the will to 
World Power is in its nature immeasurable. Less 
even than a Great Power can a World Power ever 
be satisfied. . . . The will to World Power must 
in its nature be insatiable; satiety would mean 
senility. 

Whoever opposes Germany's efforts toward 
World Power is on the wrong side. Such a view 
is in direct contradiction with the development in 
which we are engaged. 

Adolf Grabowsky, in "Das neue Deutschland," Kriegs- 
nummer 3 (Sept. 30, 1914) ; 4 (Oct. 28, 1914) ; 6 (Dec. 
22, 1914) ; 24 (March 18, 1916). 



Germany's peculiar qualification for World Power 

Dominion may be based on livid power or on 
prudent calculation. Leadership demands more: 
in addition to cultural and moral superiority, in 
addition to respect for variation, it demands also 
the capacity of grasping and intelligently penetrat- 
ing foreign character. To the nation that combines 
these qualities the World Power of the future must 
fall; and this nation is the German. . . . 

So our gaze sweeps wider, from the North Cape 
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UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

to the Indian Ocean, embracing an Empire that, 
from the geographical, economic and political points 
of view, possesses boundless possibilities. 

Albert Gottlieb, in "Grenzboten," no. 52 (Dec. 30, 
1914). 

The French and the English 

If the French had not gone mad, if they had not 
permitted themselves to be misused as servants of 
England and of Russia, I do not see what occa- 
sion could have arisen for our fighting them. At 
present they are mad, and consequently they must 
be treated as madmen. . . . The power is here; it 
must be used; the diplomatist is not to be permit- 
ted to contradict the General Staff, as in 1870. . . . 

It is not easy for the Germans to understand 
England. The ignorance of the English is com- 
parable with that of the Russians; and in par- 
ticular the pseudo-culture of the "cultured" classes 
defies description. On the other hand . . . the 
English character is developed to an extraordinary 
degree: daring self-confidence, joy in independent 
action, the gift of enforcing obedience by sheer 
power of will. The Englishman possesses the mar- 
velous art of drawing power from his own limita- 
tions. . . . There is but one way to check this 
power: another power of will must be set up 
against it, a mighty power which the English will 
encounter at every turn and on which they will 
break their bones. . . . 

Houston Stewart Chamberlain, "Deutschlands Kriegs- 
ziel" (1916), pp. 9-11. 

91 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

German must become the language of the world 

I have no stronger or more sacred conviction than 
this: that the higher culture of humanity depends 
upon the diffusion of the German language. ... 
For the diffusion of this language it is necessary 
that the German Empire should become the leading 
State in the world. . . . People must learn that any- 
one who cannot speak German is a pariah. 

Chamberlain, "Kriegsaufsatze," pp. 9, 35. 

How new territories may be Germanized 

Every expansion of frontiers must result, first of 
all, in a numerical strengthening of the alien ele- 
ment. ... In certain cases the conquered State 
will itself have the greatest interest in not losing 
both the territories it cedes and their population, if 
it can take over the population and gain strength 
thereby, as is the case, for example, with France, 
decadent already and diminished in its population 
by the war. ... As regards any part of the popu- 
lation that decides to remain on the hereditary soil 
even under the new rule, it will be necessary to 
demand full security that they shall interpose no 
resistance, in principle, to their denationalization, 
and that they shall agree to the introduction, at 
least in a gradual way, of instruction exclusively 
in the language of the conqueror and the exclusive 
use of this language. If entire States are annexed, 
the difficulties are of course greater, but by no 
means insuperable. ... 

Franz Kohler, "Der neue Dreibund" (1915), p. 108. 
92 



UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

Moral and immoral policies of power 

Nothing is more foolish than the opinion that 
what is called culture wins its way by quiet, peace- 
ful labor. The cultures of the nations struggle one 
with the other in a life and death contest. The 
culture of a nation cannot dispense with the means 
of power, if it has the will to establish and assert 
itself. , . . Herein is found the moral justification 
for a national policy of power. Immoral, of course, 
is a policy of power if it is employed, as among 
our enemies, to supplant the higher German culture 
and morality by the much lower English, French 
or Russian culture (or lack of culture). 

It is not true that all nations have the same right 
of existence. . . . There are decadent nations, fall- 
ing into moral decay; these in the tribunal of his- 
tory have forfeited the right to their own national 
existence and must make room for the higher mor- 
ality of another nation destined to dominion. . . . 

In this matter things must be regarded as they 
are, without sentimentality. May our statesmen 
approach the future questions of peace in this 
spirit! 

Wolfgang Eisenhart, in the "Preussische Kreuzzeitung" 
(May 30, 1 91 6). 

Imperialism and Socialism 

The last decades have witnessed the formation 
of a limited number of great economic domains 
with a political organization as centralized as pos- 
sible. This is what is called Imperialism. Al- 

93 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

though this goal is attained by capitalistic means, 
it is, for all that, a goal beyond which humanity is 
bound to move toward Socialism. For the great 
Empires render much more effective service to the 
preservation of peace than the numerous politically 
independent States that stand side by side, par- 
ticularly in western Europe. . . . Where then is it 
written that every nation, no matter how petty, has 
the right of political independence? What sort of 
church-parish politics is this? 

Richard Calwer, "Sozialismus und Gebietserweiter- 
ungen," in the "Tag" (June 5, 1916). Calwer is a Socialist 
who, some years before the war, severed his connection 
with the Social Democratic party. During the war he 
has made systematic propaganda to convince German 
Socialists of the necessity of annexations. See Grum- 
bach, "Das annexionistische Deutschland," p. 163. 



Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg interpreted 

Ears were pricked up in the Reichstag when the 
Imperial Chancellor spoke of "real guaranties and 
securities"; for until this moment no similar as- 
surance regarding the aims of peace had been given 
by the Administration. . . . Real guaranties and 
securities, so that no enemy shall longer dare to 
attack us! That conclusively sums up all the de- 
sires of the German people as regards the aims of 
peace, provided always that this utterance is cor- 
rectly understood and consistently championed. 

Leading article on the Chancellor's speech of May 28, 
(see above, p. 22), in the "Kolnische Volkszeitung" (May 
29, 1915)- 

94 



UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

Imperial Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, in 
his last speech in the Reichstag, expressed, amid 
the applause of his hearers and probably with the 
assent of the overwhelming majority of Germans, 
the hope that the experiences of this fearful war 
would at least bring the German people to unlearn 
all sentimentality. It would be a piece of senti- 
mentality if we did not stake everything on beating 
France down by the might of our weapons so com- 
pletely that she shall lose for all time any desire 
of creating further disturbance. . . . Until France 
has sunk into the position of a State of the third 
or fourth rank, she will always be on the side of 
Germany's enemies. . . . 

Russia cannot be left in its former boundaries. 
It must be limited to its proper. Great Russian core 
and its face must be turned to the East. . . .We 
must press forward inexorably to the realization 
of our purpose of creating a greater Germany that 
shall offer us new land for our surplus of spiritual 
and economic power. . . . 

Albert Bovenschen, "Deutschland an der Zeitenwende" 
(1916), pp. 21-22, 36, 217-218. 



Dr. Demburg disavowed 

During his visit to the United States, former Colo- 
nial Secretary Dernburg stated that Germany would 
annex no territory in Europe. 

If Herr Dernburg really offered to our enemies 
the voluntary evacuation of Belgium, this was a 
most surprising utterance, against which we must 
enter an unmistakable protest. If he really said 

95 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

that Germany could not think of any increase of 
territory in Europe, this was an extraordinary as- 
sumption of authority. 

Article in the "Tagliche Rundschau" (May i, 1915). 

Herr Dernburg undoubtedly has merits. He is 
passing a period of war across the ocean, but he 
is not resting his weary head on Uncle Sam's lap; 
he is wandering day by day from meeting to meet- 
ing, is writing articles, is giving interviews, is gen- 
erally active, as a patriot is bound to be. Is he 
acting more or less under official commission? 
Or perhaps in that semi-official form, which Bis- 
marck found so desirable, in order to put out feel- 
ers and, in case of necessity, thunder out a de- 
nial? . . . 

Herr Dernburg is said to have stated : "Germany 
cannot think of increasing her possessions in Eu- 
rope, because for this purpose she would be obliged 
to subjugate people who would not voluntarily ac- 
cept her rule." Of course Herr Dernburg cannot 
have said this. His historical knowledge must tell 
him that Empires have never been established by 
"voluntary acceptance" of a foreign rule. . . . 

"Leipziger Neueste Nachrichten" (May 17, 1915). 

Frederic's "pedants" at work* 

. . . On the basis of philological investigations, 
the speaker further explained that the German 
eagle formerly ruled from Boonen (Boulogne-sur- 
Mer) in French Flanders to Reval in Esthonia. He 
expressed, with the general applause of the meet- 

* See title page. 

96 



UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

ing, the hope that the war would fulfill the desires 
aroused in the German people by their recollection 
of this glorious past. 

Address delivered before the "German Union of De- 
fense" (Deutscher Wehrverein), reported in the *'Wehr" 
(June, 1915). The Union has about 100,000 members. 
The "Wehr" is its organ. See Grumbach, p. 154. 

Today our battle-tried regiments stand victori- 
ous in Flanders. Almost in our grasp lies the old 
Frankish royal city of Soissons — all this old his- 
toric Frankish soil in the great period of German 
history. This most terrible of wars is, we hope, 
the grand finale of the millennial struggle for the 
kingdom of Lothair. . . . The decision . . . will 
not be reached in the Balkans, nor in the East — 
there, in addition to German interests, Austro-Hun- 
garian desires are in play — it will be reached, as far 
as Germany is concerned, primarily in the West; it 
must bring us the end of that ancient struggle for 
Lotharingia; for France will not renounce her pol- 
icy of revanche until it is made fully clear to her 
that the scales of the destiny of nations have finally 
tipped in favor of the German Empire. 

"Rheinisch-Westfalische Zeitung" (Feb. 9, 1916). 



Germany's "needs" in Europe summarized 

Our need in the West is to make Belgium innocu- 
ous and to strengthen our base on the North Sea. 
Our need in the East is to push Russia back and 
gain new land for German peasant settlements. 
. . . Our military situation entitles us to hope that 

97 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

both needs will be satisfied by the peace that we 
shall conclude. 

Friedrich Meinecke, "Praliminarien der Kriegsziele," 
no. 31 (July 31, 1915), p. 1014. 

Germany knows that it is responsible to future 
generations for making its frontiers permanently 
safe. This can be attained only by making Belgium 
permanently innocuous and by taking possession 
of the line of the Vistula, the Niemen and the Dvina, 
together with all the fortresses. . . . There is need 
also of a new regulation of the French frontier. 

Karl Bleibtreu, in "Neue Ziiricher Nachrichten" (Jan- 
uary 15, 1916). 

Either ransom or loot 

Whatever one may think of questions of annexa- 
tion, the financial gain of our occupation of terri- 
tory is certain. For either the territories will be 
restored later, and then not only shall we be en- 
titled to demand as ransom the repayment of the 
costs of the war that was forced upon us, but our 
enemies will also be ready to make any sacrifice 
in order to recover their former possessions at the 
earliest possible moment; or else these occupied ter- 
ritories will remain, in whole or in part, in the pos- 
session of the Central Powers. . . . 

''Kolnische Zeitung" (August 22, 1915). 



LK>ot already under cover 

The quantity of merchandise of various kinds 
seized in the hostile countries is so great that the 

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UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

difficulty of storing it increases every day. By 
request of the Prussian Minister of War, all the 
chambers of commerce have been asked to give all 
possible information regarding warehouses, sheds, 
etc. ... in which these spoils may be temporarily 
sheltered. It is proposed to divide the merchan- 
dise among all the countries of the Empire,* 

"Frankfurter Zeitung," cited in the Paris "Temps" 
(Jan. 5, 1915). 

The tender mercies of terrorism 

We all accept the principle that, for the guilt of 
one, the whole community to which he belongs 
must atone. The village from which the inhab- 
itants have fired upon our troops is to be burned. 
If the guilty party is not discovered, a few repre- 
sentatives are to be chosen among the population 
and put to death in pursuance of the rules of 
martial law. . . . The innocent must atone to- 
gether with the guilty, and if the latter cannot be 
discovered, the innocent must suffer in their stead, 
not because a crime has been committed, but in 
order that crimes shall not be committed in the 
future.f Every time a village is set on fire, hos- 
tages put to death, and the inhabitants of a town 
in which armed resistance has been offered to our 
invading troops are decimated, warning is given 
to non-occupied territory. There can be no doubt 
that the burning of Battice, Herve, Louvain and 
Dinant have served as warnings. The burning 

* See Appendix, pp. 253, 254, arts. 46, 47. 
tSee Appendix, p. 254, art. 50. 

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OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

and the bloodshed in the first days of the war pre- 
vented the larger Belgian towns from making any 
attack upon the weak contingents with which we 
have been able to hold them. . . , 

War is not a society game. War is hell-fire. He 
who, without being called upon, puts his finger in 
it, burns his hand, his soul, his life. This is the 
lot that has fallen to this poor, blinded, misled 
Belgian nation. 

Walter Bloem, in the "Kolnische Zeitung" (Feb. lo, 
1915), cited in "J^ges par eux-memes," p. 48. 

"Belgium does not exist" 

In my view it would be unsuitable for the Ger- 
man Empire to conduct any sort of negotiation with 
the State of Belgium. For us the State of Bel- 
gium does not exist. As regards the Belgian popu- 
lation, the situation may, of course, be different; 
the demands of the Flemings for a free development 
of their nationality seems particularly justified. . . . 

Count Reventlow, in the "Deutsche Tageszeitung" 
(March i, 1916). 

Germany must keep her soldiers* graves 

The blush of shame rises to one's face, when one 
thinks of the many thousands of German soldiers* 
graves which have had to be dug in Flemish soil 
and which some Germans would surrender need- 
lessly, because of an unintelligible self-restraint, of 
an imaginary German moderation^ — which, how- 
ever, in this case would mean suicide. . . . 

"Kolnische Volkszeitung" (March 5, 1916). 
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UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

Germany needs Russian soil 

For the Government and the governed the fixed 
goal is from today: No peace that does not guar- 
antee us our frontiers in the East and in the West, 
the weakening of Russia by annexation of terri- 
tory, control of Belgium so that it cannot be used 
as a French-English military base and as a sally- 
port. We regard a weakening of Russia as abso- 
lutely necessary for our future, among other rea- 
sons because we need land for settlement. We do 
not believe that a cession of land must needs pro- 
duce permanently bad relations with our eastern 
neighbor; but whatever land we take from Russia, 
we are taking for our own sake . . . not in order 
to liberate Letts, Lithuanians or other peoples. And 
it is quite immaterial, as far as we are concerned, 
whether we take our war indemnity in land from a 
reactionary or a liberal Russia. . . . 

"Tagliche Rundschau" (April 6, 1916). 

Our comrade, Ebert . . . quite rightly emphasized 
that we are opposed to the forcible conquest of 
other nations. The Imperial Chancellor also re- 
fused, in December, to support any such plans ; but 
he did not express any opposition to the annexa- 
tion of land in the East for German colonization. 
Like all the world, we are subject to the power of 
facts, which are stronger than men or parties. And 
it is no characteristic of Socialism to place itself 
in conflict with new developments. 

The Social-Democratic "Frankfurter Volksstimme" 
(April 7, 1916). 

lOI 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

German military colonies 

We hope that this gigantic struggle will bring 
such an increase of Germany's power that our Fa- 
therland shall no longer have to fear any foe in 
Europe. It is important, above all, to virin better 
and more defensible frontiers in the East and in 
the West and to occupy the border districts which 
we are to conquer with German settlers. In this 
matter the system of military colonies, as it was 
employed by the ancient Romans in their conquests, 
is especially to be recommended. The hostile popu- 
lation would be partially expropriated at the cost 
of our present foes, and would be replaced espe- 
cially by German soldiers who had completed their 
service and by those invalided in war. . . . 

Wolfgang Eisenhart, "Was lehrt der Krieg fiir unsere 
nationale Zukunft"; Address delivered March i, 1915; p. 
19. 

Proposed frontiers of "Middle Europe" 

Russia is by far the most dangerous enemy, not 
only of Middle Europe, but of all Europe and of 
the whole civilized world. . . . The object of any 
treaty of peace must therefore be to preserve Rus- 
sia's Asiatic character and, so far as possible, to 
weaken her position as a European Great Power. 
This can be done only by taking from her those 
western territories which are most valuable from 
the cultural and the economic points of view and 
by keeping her away at the same time from all 
European seas (except the White Sea). . . . The 
boundary that should be drawn would . . . run 

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UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

from Kronstadt by way of Brest-Litovsk and 
Taganrog to Baku, Finland of course being includ- 
ed. Besides the razing of all Russia's western 
fortresses, especially the fortresses on the sea, it 
would be necessary to take from her Finland, Es- 
thonia, Livonia, Kurland, Poland, Volhynia, Po- 
dolia, Bessarabia, portions of Little Russia and of 
South Russia, Taurida (Krim) and the Caucasus. 
... In the Balkans, if these are freed from Russian 
assistance and intrigues, two kingdoms, Servia and 
Montenegro, should be wiped completely off the 
map. . . . 

There can be no united and powerful Middle 
Europe so long as France retains her present size 
and power. To deprive her of these must be the 
object of any treaty of peace. Of course it is not 
a question solely of acquisition of territory, for 
nations can be ruined by war indemnities or by 
commercial treaties, but of these we are not talk- 
ing at present. We are asking only : What cessions 
of territory are necessary in order to lessen by two 
the number of Great Powers in Europe? What 
is necessary for this purpose? 

Whether the cession of northern seaports will 
come into question is a matter that had better not 
be discussed at present. Possibly the Middle States 
may even need a port on the Mediterranean like 
Toulon, which would necessarily involve the an- 
nexation of Nice. . . . That France must lose all 
the north coast of Africa that belongs to her is the 
more certain, because she would not be sufficiently 
crippled by war indemnities alone. Nor would it 
be enough to insist on the transfer of her fleet, but 

103 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

among her fortresses those that protect harbors 
must first be razed ; and one of the most important 
conditions of peace that we should strive to obtain 
would be that she should maintain only a commer- 
cial fleet. France should be forced into a position 
similar to that now held by Spain. . . . 

. . . The punishment that England would find 
most severe would perhaps be her complete ex- 
clusion from the Mediterranean. . . . She would 
be shut off from Malta and the other islands if 
Gibraltar were taken from her and if Tangiers 
ceased to be neutral. . . . 

... If any part of these protecting walls is de- 
fectively constructed, our culture will be perma- 
nently injured or perhaps annihilated before an- 
other generation. Then the great sacrifice of life 
would have been made not for life, but only for 
death. 

A. Oelzelt-Newin, "Welche Strafe soil die treffen, die 
Schuld am Weltkrieg tragen" (191 5), pp. 12-16. 

Middle Europe must consider strategic necessi- 
ties in fixing her eastern boundaries. . . . East 
Prussia needs stronger protection on the North and 
on the East. ... In the West military considera- 
tions demand a greater extension of the geographic 
boundary. ... If the military object of gaining 
permanent security against France and also the 
freedom of the seas is to be really attained, the 
northeastern part of France, as a number of lead- 
ing statesmen have already indicated, must be 
brought within the German northwestern frontier, 
as far as the mouth of the Somme, somewhere along 

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UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

the line Vignacourt-Bapaume-Verdun-St. Mihiel- 
Pont a Mousson. . . . The establishment of this 
frontier, together with the taking of Belfort and 
its environs, which are necessary for the protec- 
tion of South Germany, seems thoroughly justified. 
... As regards the annexation of Belgium to Mid- 
dle Europe, to which the majority of its inhabitants 
belong as regards language, no further words need 
be wasted; it is a matter of course. 

In the southwest the geographical frontier must 
in like manner be pushed forward, in order that 
Triest, one of the most important points for Mid- 
dle Europe, may be removed from hostile attack. 
. . . The northern part of Venetia, the districts of 
Friuli and Treviso, up to a line running from the 
south end of Lake Garda to the mouth of the Piave, 
must be taken as a glacis at the foot of the Alps in 
order to ward off from Austria's Adriatic coast all 
future menace. On national grounds, however, this 
necessary line of security may and will be pushed 
forward a few kilometers. . . . 

Albert Ritter, "Der Organische Aufbau Europas" 
(1916), pp. 27-28. 



Organization of Middle Europe 

The extent of the Middle European Federation, 
the series of States that are to be included, has 
already repeatedly been indicated: Sweden, Den- 
mark, Norway, Holland, Switzerland, Rumania and 
Bulgaria are gradually to enter the union primarily 
formed by the two Empires and, with Turkey, they 
will fill out the framework of that "North Cape- 

105 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Bagdad" Federal Empire of which so much has 
been said. . . . 

Treaties of political alliance form the basis of 
the Federation; closer economic connections, the 
establishment of common standards of value, cus- 
toms unions, military conventions will follow, un- 
til within a few decades a union will be created 
that will defy all storms. . . . 

Ritter, ibid., pp. 49, 53. 



Outlines of the German World Empire 

. . . There are those who think they are obliged 
to oppose any extension of our frontiers, although 
this is open treason against the heroic courage of 
our warriors in the field. ... If moderation is 
everything, we might have obtained the same re- 
sults with smaller sacrifices, perhaps even without 
a war. . . . 

Our relation to our neighbors in the West is rela- 
tively easy to determine. . . . Completely exhaust- 
ed financially and called upon to pay a very heavy 
war indemnity, France would regard the loss of a 
great part of her African colonial possessions as a 
liberation from a burden which then more than ever 
would exhaust her powers. . . . 

If England owed her former superiority to her 
insular position and to the impossibility of attack- 
ing her by land, it must be our aim to establish 
such boundaries that we can reach England, that 
is, English possessions, by the land route. . . . 

The distance from Berlin to Bombay . . . cor- 
responds roughly to that between Petrograd and 

106 



UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

Vladivostok, and to surmount this presented no 
insuperable difficulties even to a State like Russia 
during its war with Japan. . . . 

Here then is to be found the true and the single 
solution of the problem of getting rid of the yoke 
that England has thrown upon the world. We 
must cut off her connection with her richest col- 
onies, South Africa and India, and against these 
colonies we must establish strong frontiers which 
. . . shall be connected with our own railway sys- 
tem and that of our Allies. . . . 

From such points of view, the idea of establish- 
ing a Federation which carries us over the Balkans 
and through Turkey to the gates of India and of 
Cape Colony becomes of new significance; and we 
see that this solution will be attained because it 
must be attained. . . . 

Franz Kohler, "Der neue Dreibund" (1915), pp. 2, 33, 
82.83. 

Germany's African Empire 

The World War has welded Central Europe to- 
gether and has done much to give tangible shape 
to the Berlin-Bagdad idea, which before the war 
was very much a matter of theory. The problem 
of Egypt also has been brought into the World 
War; and through Egypt the way leads up the 
Nile into the heart of Africa, into those regions that 
lie between the German colonies in eastern and 
western Africa. Egypt and its hinterland again in 
possession of Germany's ally, Turkey; in the heart 
of Africa the possibilities of German territorial 
connections, so much discussed before the war, 

107 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

converted into realities — on the political horizon 
we see the "Cape to Cairo to Singapore" vision of 
the future grow pale and the vision "Hamburg to 
Damascus to Luderitz Bay" arising again! 

Arthur Dix, in the "Tag" (June 4, 1915). 

We must proclaim it as our national task to be- 
come a real colonial power in Africa. . . . Gains of 
territory in Europe, which are necessary to im- 
prove our frontiers and our continental position, but 
also colonies in Africa must be the prize of victory ! 

The establishment of such an Empire at the cost 
of the French would deprive France of a recruiting 
ground, of which in future it could and necessarily 
would make far greater use than now, were it to 
remain in possession of its African territories. In 
losing them France would be sensibly weakened. 

To those who guide our destinies we must say: 
"Continental power and colonial power! In fol- 
lowing one of these guiding stars do not forget 
the other !" 

Kuno Waltemath in "Preussische Jahrbucher" (Janu- 
ary, 1916), pp. 42, 48. 

I agree fully and gladly with those who advocate 
an increase of our territory outside of Europe. I 
think, too, that we can relieve certain States which 
possess African colonies of the task of administer- 
ing them. If Portugal is really bound by treaty to 
send her fleet and her army to the aid of England, 
we might make it very easy for that country to get 
rid of Angola at a very low price! We had in- 
tended to buy this West African colony; but it 
would be better to pay nothing for it and to take the 

108 



UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

Azores, the Cape Verde Islands and Madeira, to 
boot. ... 

Alfred Ruhemann, in "Die Vernichtung der englischen 
Weltmacht" (1915), p. 145. 

Assuming that at the end of this war the Belgian 
Congo will form part of the booty that falls to us, 
we need not burst into great jubilation over its ac- 
quisition. Of course we shall take all the territory 
that we can get, for territory always has value. . . . 
The question of Angola is quite different. . . . 
There in the future there may some time be a really 
extensive German settlement — that is, what is 
called in Africa "extensive settlement," in which the 
negro must be and remain the real tiller of the 
soil. . . . 

Central Africa alone would give us extensive ter- 
ritory, but no proportional internal colonial values. 
We need, therefore, a really sufficient acquisition in 
another direction; but at present we prefer not to 
reveal this aim. . . . 

Paul Rohrbach, "Unsere koloniale Zukunft" (1915), 
pp. 14-17. 

German aims in China 

The Japanese have taken Tsing-tao, but to leave 
Japan at work in China is not to be thought of. . . . 
This would be a crime against the future of China, 
of Germany and of the civilization of the world. 
If England paid the Japanese to go to Tsing-tao, 
she may also pay them to go away. . . . Our base 
of support in China we must and shall recover. 
Whatever nation is intrusted with the task of 

109 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

bringing China into connection with the civilization 
of the world, of combining the spirit of the Far 
East with that of the Occident, will be doing work 
that will be decisive for a greater stretch of the 
future of our race than we can now foresee. . . . 
The German World Idea will forever remain patch- 
work, unless it secures a decisive external and in- 
ternal part in the mighty process of change in which 
the Chinese world is now involved. 

Paul Rohrbach, "Der deutsche Gedanke in der Welt" 
(1914), p. 21. 

Which of the great European civilized nations is 
to serve as architect for the external and internal 
reconstruction of China? Surely not the Japanese; 
they are Asiatics. . . . The most obvious question 
is whether it will be the English. We may hope 
today that, after this war, they probably will not 
be able to discharge this task. Whether we shall 
assume it will depend upon our position after the 
war. If we are victorious we shall probably play 
a great role in eastern Asia. 

Paul Rohrbach, "Unsere koloniale Zukunftsarbeit" 
(1915), PP- 68-69. 

The Achilles' heel of the British Empire 

The same people who . . . asserted that a war 
between World Powers at the present time could 
not possibly last longer than a few months, are 
now saying with the same assurance : *^Of course 
it is impossible to overthrow England's power in a 
single war." This is by no means impossible; it 
is, on the contrary, quite possible, if we start with 

no 



UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

Egypt. England's fatality was the building of the 
Suez Canal. ... If the English military forces in 
Egypt, all the Australians, Canadians, Hindus and 
real English regiments, surrender to the Turks or 
are forced to take to their ships in Alexandria, a 
blow will be struck that will be heard from Gibral- 
tar to Singapore; and under this blow the entire 
dome of British world dominion will crash down 
with the broken keystone. . . . 

The day when England shall clearly see its des- 
tiny . . . will be the birthday of the new Germany 
beyond the seas. On that day we shall pay to our 
brave men in Southwest Africa, in East Africa, in 
Cameroon, in Togo, in Tsing-tao and in the South 
Sea, our thanks for the way in which they have 
discharged their duty; and we shall write these 
thanks in bold lines, not on paper or bronze or stone, 
but on the map of the world. . . . 

Paul Rohrbach, "Unser Kolonialbesitz," no. 37 (Sept. 
II, 1915). 

Calais is on the circumference, Suez is at the 
center of the English World Empire. . . . Calais 
menaces one of the many routes to and from Eng- 
land. Suez cuts off the single direct connection 
between European England and her African, Asiat- 
ic and Australian possessions; it strikes what is 
really the vital nerve. Calais is a blow of the fist 
that stuns . . . Suez is a stab in the heart that 
kills . . . and therefore an object most fervently 
to be desired. . . . 

Ernst Jackh, "Calais oder Suez," no. 26 (June 26, 
1915), pp. 841, 846. 

Ill 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Never before has the saying of Bismarck been 
so true as now: "England needs Egypt like her 
daily bread, on account of the Suez Canal, the most 
direct line of connection between the eastern and 
western halves of the Empire. It is like the nerve 
in the neck that connects the spine with the brain/' 
. . . Neither now nor at any time in the future can 
we allow England, by timely diplomatic artifices, 
to wrest from our hands the Egyptian whip. The 
ceterum censeo of this war must continue to be: 
The Suez Canal must be conquered ! 

Carl Anton Schafer, "Bismarck's Aegypten- und In- 
dienpolitik, no. 45 (Nov. 6, 191 5.) 



The taking of London 

... In general, the problem of making England 
. . . innocuous and her overthrow as useful as pos- 
sible for us may best be solved if we make ourselves 
masters (from a military point of view) of the Euro- 
pean center of the British Empire. The road from 
Gravelotte and Verdun to Dunkirk and Boulogne 
might be continued by the occupation of a bridge- 
head at Dover — a castle on English soil. This pro- 
posal may seem fantastic, but it is quite as easy to 
carry it through as a landing on British soil, and 
without this the war must last for years. Only the 
taking of London, which we shall live to see, will 
make peace possible, and after the taking of Lon- 
don one treaty provision may just as well be ex- 
acted as another. . . . 

Albert Ritter ("Konrad von Winterstetten"), "Nord- 
kap-Bagdad" (1915), PP- 33. 34- 

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UTTERANCES OF PUBLICISTS 

How Germany will negotiate peace 

A rough time calls for a ready fist. We saw how 
it came clenched out of the pocket to meet duplicity 
and falsehood and what a clean sweep it made. In 
the coming diplomatic discussions, in which the 
slippery adroitness of the foreign negotiators will 
once more bring out and dish up, as bright as new, 
mendacious complaints of our aggression, we look 
to see it drive down, in Bismarckian style, on the 
green table and set the ink-bottles dancing, un- 
less we get what belongs to us, what we regard 
as necessary for an enduring peace. 

Alfred Ruhemann, in "Die Vernichtung der englischen 
Weltmacht" (1915), p. 146. 

The severest of Germany's terms 

[Our enemies] must also pay, and must pay a 
very high price, for the injuries they have inflicted 
upon our interests and upon our good name by the 
lies they have spread over the whole world. Ger- 
many must insist that, in the treaty of peace to be 
signed by our enemies, they themselves shall con- 
fess that they forced the war upon us and that they 
have lied to the whole civilized world. So only can 
we stand justified before the tribunal of history. 

"Wann wird der Krieg beendigt sein ?" by "Diplomati- 
cus" (October, 19 14), p. 16. 



CHAPTER V 
UTTERANCES OF POETS 

The Germans 

I have often been deeply pained to think of this 
German nation, so worthy in its individuals and so 
pitiable as a whole. The comparison of the Ger- 
man people with other peoples rouses painful feel- 
ings that I have tried by every possible means to 
avoid. 

Goethe, conversation with Luden, November, 1813; 
Works (Biedermann's ed.), "Gesprache," vol. iii, p. 103. 

The Germans are much more revengeful than the 
Romance peoples; this is because they are ideal- 
ists, even in hatred. We Germans hate long and 
hate deeply, to our last breath. . . . 

Heinrich Heine. 

The Prussians 

The Prussians are cruel by nature; civilization 
will make them ferocious. 

Goethe. 

The Prussians . . . nature has made them stu- 
pid, science has made them wicked. 

Heinrich Heine. 
114 



UTTERANCES OF POETS 

A prophecy fulfilled 

* . . Christianity has to a certain extent softened 
this brutal belligerent ardor of the Teutons, but it 
has not been able to destroy it ; and when the Cross 
— the talisman that fetters it — shall be broken, then 
the ferocity of the old-time fighters, the frenzied 
exaltation of the Berserkers, whose praises are still 
sung by the poets of the North, will again burst 
forth. Then — and alas! this day will surely come 
— the old war gods will arise from their legendary 
tombs and wipe the dust of ages from their eyes; 
Thor will arise with his gigantic hanuner and de- 
molish the Gothic cathedrals. . . . 

Heinrich Heine, ''De rAUemagne" (1855), vol. i, p. 
181. 

A prophecy not yet fulfilled 

Not only Alsace and Lorraine, but all France and 
Europe as well as the whole world will belong to 
us. Yes, the whole world will be German. Often, 
walking the woods of my Fatherland, have I 
dreamed of this German supremacy. 

Heinrich Heine. 

Vierordt's song of hate 

Germany, Hate! 

There was a time when the hordes of a Mongolian 
chieftain overran us with a great clashing of swords ; 
and a dais was built for the chieftain's throne by 
piling up the skulls of Teutonic warriors. 

There was a time when the bands of the French 
115 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Revolution pressed on from the West to attack us ; 
with them came the mocking Gallic spirit, and the 
hand of pillage waved the torch of arson in the 
name of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. 

There was a time when the armies of the North- 
men overran us, spreading over all the land death, 
flames and horror. They ascended the rivers at 
night, by the light of the moon, to throw themselves 
into battle like dragons come out of the sea. 

And now they all attack at once, like vultures 
seeking their prey; like bandits all three assail 
thee, my poor Germany, so tranquil under thy 
great spruce trees — the Gallic coiner of phrases, 
the English robber, the Russian barbarian. 

O my Germany, into thy soul thou must etch a 
deep and indelible hate; this hate thou hast lacked 
for a long, long time. Retribution, vengeance, fury 
are demanded; stifle in thy heart all human feeling 
and hasten to the fight. 

O Germany, hate! Slaughter thy foes by the 
millions and of their reeking corpses build a monu- 
ment that shall reach the clouds. 

O Germany, hate now ! Arm thyself in steel and 
pierce with thy bayonet the heart of every foe; no 
prisoners! Lock all their lips in silence; turn our 
neighbors' lands into deserts. 

O Germany, hate! Salvation will come of thy 
wrath. Beat in their skulls with rifle-butts and 
with axes. These bandits are beasts of the chase, 
they are not men. Let your clenched fist enforce 
the judgment of God. 

O Germany, the time to hate has come. Strike 
and thrust, true and hard. Battalions, batteries, 

ii6 



UTTERANCES OF POETS 

squadrons, all to the front! Afterwards thou wilt 
stand erect on the ruins of the world, healed for- 
ever of thine ancient madness, of thy love for the 
alien. 

The poet's reply to a Swiss critic 

The Swiss daily "Easier Nachrichten" reproduced a 
part of this poem and expressed the opinion that its 
author had lost all human feeling. 

Herr Vierordt, in reply, wrote an open letter to the 
"Easier Nachrichten" which it published October 15, 1914 
(no. 493). Extracts from this letter are appended. 

Gentlemen : 

Not long ago I published a poem entitled, "Ger- 
many, Hate!" This poem made something of a 
stir in Germany and abroad. In a friendly and 
generous spirit I appended the statement: "Re- 
production authorized." I naturally assumed that 
those who might avail themselves of this permis- 
sion would have enough literary and artistic tact 
to reproduce the whole poem. But you, gentle- 
men, and after you a whole series of newspapers, 
have picked out two stanzas and have reproduced 
them with comments. I am sorry to be obliged to 
use a very impolite expression: you have acted 
like thieves who pry drawers open and take out 
what suits their purposes, scattering the rest on 
the floor. 

If you suppress certain parts of my poem, you run 
the risk of completely falsifying its meaning. You 
act exactly like a vandal who should needlessly 
break off the arms and the legs of a statuette, or 

117 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

destroy a cathedral with artillery. This compari- 
son may seem to you ridiculous; but whether a 
work of architecture or a piece of literature is con- 
cerned, the principle is the same. A poem perfect 
in form is a work of architectural art, and only the 
unskilled fingers of an amateur would venture to 
disfigure it. 

Certain stanzas separated from my entire work 
make a somewhat brutal impression ; it is so in the 
case of the two stanzas cited by you. . . . All the 
same, in writing my poem I have not by any means 
lost — as you politely remark— "all human feeling." 
Quite the contrary. If the treasury of the German 
language contained expressions of hatred and of 
anger a thousand times stronger, I would have 
hurled them in the world's face. Were there any- 
thing a thousand times worse than death, I should 
wish it for the accursed enemies of my Fatherland ! 

You, honorable sir, belong to a neutral country, 
and you will never be able to think yourself into 
the soul of a German, aroused to the last degree 
by the treacherous attack of Europe upon Ger- 
Imany. . . . My concluding lines: 



Afterwards thou wilt stand erect on the ruins of 

the world, 
Healed forever of thine ancient madness. 
Of thy love for the alien — 



answer a desire long felt by every true German. 
The worst means may well be used to attain this 
end. This is the quintessence of my poem, the 

ii8 



UTTERANCES OF POETS 

deeper meaning of this poetic work based upon 
history. . . . 

To those who think me too violent, I make this 
simple answer: It is God who urged me, who en- 
joined me to write this work with words of power. 
There is still a God of force, of pride, who takes 
pleasure in seeing the German Michael at last 
aroused; but, Michael, you still need spurring. . . . 
This God has chosen his German people to be 
wrought into an engine of destruction, to be hurled 
against another people who are always on edge, who 
will not let us live and labor in peace, and whose 
mad ambition proves its barbarism by leading bar- 
barian peoples against us. When it comes to fight- 
ing these enemies, these Kabyles, these Moroccans, 
these Hindus, these Cossacks, then there are no 
longer any laws of war. There is but one way : kill, 
kill, kill them all! 

Our great poet, Heinrich von Kleist, wrote long 
ago: "Kill them; the tribunal of the world will not 
question your motives." 

Yes! There is a God who loves the savage on- 
slaught, and who, as the creator of the universe, 
also loves words that hit hard. To this God the 
shouts of the strong are sweeter than the moaning 
of old women. . . . 

Heinrich Vicrordt. 

Lissauer's song of hate 

This poem, entitled "Hate against England," was com- 
posed by Ernst Lissauer, a soldier in the loth Bavarian 
infantry regiment. By order of the commander-in-chief 
it was distributed among all the Bavarian troops in the 

119 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

field— with the omission, however, of the second stanza. 
The author was decorated by the German Emperor. 

What do we care for the Russians and French? 

Shot against shot and thrust for thrust! 

We love them not, we hate them not; 

We guard the Vistula and the passes of the Vosges. 

We have but one single hate; 

We love as one, we hate as one ; 

We have but one single foe, 
Whom you all know, whom you all know. 
He sits crouched behind the gray flood. 
Full of envy, full of fury, full of craft, full of guile. 
Set apart by waters that are thicker than blood. 
We wish to go before a seat of judgment 
To swear an oath, face to face. 
An oath of metal no wind can blow away, 
An oath for children and children's children. 
Hearken to the word, repeat the word, 
It rolls on through all Germany: 

We will not forbear from our hate; 

We have all but one hate ; 

We love as one, we hate as one; 

We have all but one foe — 
England ! 

In the quarter-deck cabin, the banqueting room, 
Ship's officers sat at their friendly feast. 
Like a saber blow, like the swing of a sail. 
One jerked his glass aloft for a toast. 
Curt and sharp as the catch of an oar. 
Three words he uttered: "To the Day!" 
On whose score was the glass? 

1 20 



UTTERANCES OF POETS 

They had all but one hate. 
Whom had they in mind? 
They had all but one foe — 
England! 

Take the peoples of the earth in your pay; 

Build walls of bars of gold; 

Cover the ocean with bow beside -bow ; 

You reckoned shrewdly, yet not shrewdly enough. 

What do we care for the Russians and French? 

Shot against shot, and thrust for thrust! 

We fight the fight with bronze and steel, 

And some day or other we make our peace. 

You we shall hate with enduring hate ; 

We shall not forbear from our hate. 

Hate on water and hate on land, 

Hate of the head and hate of the hand, 

Hate of the hammers and hate of the crowns, 

Throttling hate of seventy millions. 

They love as one, they hate as one; 

They all have but one foe — 
England ! 

Song of the German sword 

The following poem was sent by a Bern correspondent 
to the "Pall Mall Gazette/' and was printed in that journal 
October 7, 1915. The correspondent stated that "the com- 
position appeared in Leipzig a week or so ago and has 
already run into half a dozen editions." It was reprinted 
by the Rev. Dr. L. P. Jacks, president of Manchester Col- 
lege, Oxford, in the "Hibbert Journal," April, 1916, with 
the statement : "Further inquiries have confirmed its gen- 
uineness." 

121 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

It is no duty of mine to be either just or com- 
passionate; it suffices that I am sanctified by my 
exalted mission, and that I blind the eyes of my 
enemies with such streams of tears as shall make 
the proudest of them cringe in terror under the 
vault of heaven. 

I have slaughtered the old and the sorrowful; I 
have struck off the breasts of women; and I have 
run through the bodies of children, who gazed at me 
with the eyes of the wounded lion. 

Day after day I ride aloft on the shadowy horse 
in the valley of cypresses ; and as I ride I draw forth 
the life blood from every enemy's son that dares to 
dispute my path. 

It is meet and right that I should cry aloud my 
pride, for am I not the flaming messenger of the 
Lord Almighty? 

Germany is so far above and beyond all the other 
nations that all the rest of the earth, be they who 
they may, should feel themselves well cared for 
when they are allowed to fight with the dogs for the 
crumbs that fall from her table. 

When Germany the divine is happy, then the rest 
of the world basks in smiles ; but when Germany 
suffers, God in person is rent with anguish, and, 
wrathful and avenging. He turns all the waters 
into rivers of blood. 



CHAPTER VI 

UTTERANCES OF CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY AND 
COMMERCE AND OF ECONOMISTS 



Annexationist memorial of six great industrial 
associations 

... In addition to the demand for a Colonial 
Empire that shall fully satisfy the many-sided eco- 
nomic interests of Germany, in addition to securing 
our future in the matter of customs and trade pol- 
icy and the attainment of a sufficient . . . war in- 
demnity, [the undersigned associations] find the 
chief aim of the conflict that has been forced upon 
us in the securing and improvement of the German 
Empire's basis of existence in Europe, and par- 
ticularly in the following directions. 

Belgium ... as regards military and customs 
policy, and also as regards monetary, banking and 
postal systems, must be subjected to German 
imperial legislation. Railroads and canals are to 
be made portions of our transportation system. 
For the rest, after separating the country into a 
Walloon district and a preponderantly Flemish dis- 
trict, and after transferring to Germans the eco- 
nomic undertakings and possessions that are im- 
portant for the domination of the coimtry, its gov- 

123 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

eminent and administration must be so conducted 
that the inhabitants shall obtain no influence upon 
the political destinies of the German Empire. 

As regards France . . . the possession of the 
coast beyond the Belgian frontier, perhaps to the 
Somme, and therewith an outlet to the Atlantic 
Ocean, must be regarded as vital to our future im- 
portance on the sea. The hinterland that is to be 
acquired with this coast strip must be sufficient to 
secure complete strategic control and economic ex- 
ploitation of the ports that we acquire on the Chan- 
nel. Apart from the necessary acquisition of the 
ore fields of Briey, any further annexation of French 
territory is to be made exclusively on considerations 
of military strategy. It may be assumed as self- 
evident, after the experiences of this war, that we 
. . . cannot leave in the hands of the enemy the 
fortified positions which threaten us, particularly 
Verdun and Belfort, nor the western slope of the 
Vosges that lies between them. The acquisition of 
the line of the Meuse and the French coast on the 
Channel involves, in addition to the above-men- 
tioned ore fields of Briey, also the possession of the 
coal fields in the Departments of the North and of 
Pas-de-Calais. After our experiences in Alsace- 
Lorraine, it is probably self-evident that, in these 
acquisitions also, the people of the annexed dis- 
tricts are not to be put in a position to obtain any 
political influence upon the destinies of the German 
Empire, and that the economic resources to be 
found in these districts, including medium and large 
land holdings, are to be put into German hands, 

124 



UTTERANCES OF CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY 

with an arrangement that France shall indemnify 
and take care of the former proprietors. . . . 

The need for strengthening also the sound agri- 
cultural basis of our national economy . . . de- 
mands a considerable extension of the Imperial and 
Prussian frontiers toward the East, by annexing 
parts at least of the Baltic provinces and the dis- 
tricts lying south of the same, taking into consider- 
ation at the same time the object of making our 
East-German frontier defensible from a military 
point of view. . . . 

As regards the extension of political rights to the 
inhabitants of these new territories and the safe- 
guarding of the German economic influence there- 
in, what has been said as regards France is valid 
here also. The war indemnity to be paid by Rus- 
sia must consist largely in the transfer of private 
titles to land. ... 

This memorial, dated May 20, 191 5, was addressed to 
the Imperial Chancellor by six of the most important 
agricultural and industrial associations of Germany; 
"Bund der Landwirte," ''Deutscher Bauernbund," *'Vorort 
der christlichen deutschen Bauernvereine," "Centralver- 
band deutscher Industrieller," "Bund der Industriellen," 
and ''Reichsdeutscher Mittelstandsverband." It was 
transmitted to the Governments of the several German 
States, and was extensively circulated in print as a 
"confidentiar' communication. Its publication in Ger- 
man newspapers was not permitted. The entire text was 
first published in the Paris "Humanite," August 11, 1915. 
The complete German text is given in Grumbach, "Das 
annexionistische Deutschland," pp. 123-132. 

Compare the Professors' Memorial, above, pp. 
60-65. 

125 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Chambers of Commerce for annexations 

The Union of Chambers of Commerce of the 
industrial district of the lower Rhine and of West- 
phaHa . . . held not long ago a session in Essen. 
. . . Agreement was . . . particularly complete on 
the point that Germany must hold out in the war 
to the last extremity, in order that our German 
Fatherland shall come out of the conflict . . . ex- 
ternally stronger, with secure boundaries on the 
West and on the East, with greater sea power 
and with such additions of territory as are needed 
in order to guarantee our increased power from a 
military, a naval and an economic point of view. 
Report in Berlin newspapers (April 21, 1915). 

Annexationist desires of iron and steel 
manufacturers 

The iron and steel manufacturers, who have come 
in large numbers from all districts of Germany 
to the General Assembly of the Union of Iron and 
Steel Manufacturers . . . are convinced that, on 
the basis of our military successes, we shall be 
able to obtain a position which, in connection with 
the extension of our frontiers necessary for the 
purpose, will assure to the German people . . . 
peaceful and energetic development in industry, 
commerce, ariculture and the trades. . . . 

Telegram sent to the Imperial Chancellor, Dec. 10, 
1 91 5, by the *'Hauptversammlung des Vereins deutscher 
Risen- und Stahlindustrieller." 

126 



UTTERANCES OF CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY 

Rhenish manufacturers and landowners 
want Belgium 

The Provincial Diet of the Province of the Rhine 
met this week in Diisseldorf. It occupied itself, 
among other things, with the question of erecting 
a branch of the Provincial Fire and Life Insur- 
ance Institute in Belgium. ... In connection with 
the discussion of this matter, the annexationist de- 
sires of the leading industrials and great landown- 
ers, who are dominant in the Provincial Diet, were 
very clearly expressed. Commercial Councilor 
Hagen (Cologne) expressed the earnest hope that 
the extension of the insurance business would not 
be a transitory but a permanent measure. . . . 
Councilor of Justice Kehren . . . suggested that 
. . . the expectation be expressed that the Bel- 
gian territory at present occupied should be per- 
manently retained. Both of these utterances were 
received by the Diet with loud applause. . . . The 
Superior President of the Province, Baron von 
Rheinbaben, took part in the meeting. . . . 

^'Volksblatt" of Halle (February 7, 1916). 

Chemnitz Unions demand annexations 

We cannot take our hands off Belgium alto- 
gether, nor can we abandon the Russian Baltic 
provinces. 

Annual Report of the Chemnitz Unions, issued early in 
1916; cited in the Reichstag and in a report of the 
Reichstag proceedings in the "Deutsche Tageszeitung" 
(May 26, 1916). Chemnitz is an important industrial 
center. 

127 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

World plans of a Saxon manufacturer 

Belgium, whose population is mainly of German 
origin, should . . . remain a permanent part of 
our Empire. If we succeed in gaining a part of 
the neighboring Atlantic coast of France, the pros- 
pect will be opened of breaking the supremacy of 
England in European waters. If we can force 
France and Russia to make peace, must not then 
the defeat of England follow? Through a new 
continental embargo and similar means we can im- 
pose our will upon this apparently unassailable 
country. . . . The sacrifices of this war will be so 
monstrous that we must endeavor to realize the 
highest aim: customs union and military union 
of the Triple Alliance, including as many other 
states as possible, to be brought in after the war 
by friendly negotiation, gentle intimidation or 
force. ... 

Manufacture on a large scale, which makes the 
economic life of the nation extraordinarily fruitful, 
is possible only in a great economic area. Ger- 
many by itself is today such an area. With the in- 
clusion of all its friends, however, an economic area 
would be established of such extent that there would 
be nothing like it except in the United States of 
North America. With the United States we might 
reach a friendly imderstanding, and then we could 
dictate laws to the world. 

Max Schubert, *'Deutschland am Schicksalswege" 
(1914), pp. 10, II. The writer is a manufacturer in 
Saxony, and was formerly a member of the Saxon Diet. 
See Grumbach, p. 290. 

128 



UTTERANCES OF CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY 

Calais as a center of the German lace industry 

It would be the best solution — and after our suc- 
cesses up to the present time we may hope that it 
will be realized — if Calais should remain for all 
time in German hands and if then in Calais we could 
establish a second center for the German lace in- 
dustry. 

"Der Konfektionar," no. 84 (Oct. 18, 1914). This is 
the official organ of the German "Konfektions-Unter- 
nehmer-Verband." See Grumbach, p. 30. 

Exploitation of the new "Duchy of Belgium" 

The question that is still much debated, how we 
may meet the doubts that stand in the way of an- 
nexation of territory containing foreign and hostile 
peoples, leads us to consider in a general way the 
securing of the necessary treasures of the soil, so 
far as concerns land for purposes of agriculture 
and of colonization. The notion of a so-called 
^'evacuation" has already appeared. In this con- 
nection I desire to reproduce proposals proceeding 
from eminent and recognized leaders of the German 
colonial movement and of the German economic 
life. With special reference to Belgium, the fol- 
lowing points of view were submitted to the author 
by one of these leaders: 

In every place where the population has been 
guilty of offenses against our army by brigandage 
and armed resistance, the inhabitants are to be ex- 
propriated. . . . Compensation to families is to be 
set off against military contributions. They must, 

129 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

moreover, take up their residence outside of the 
German Empire. 

The land thus set free is to be divided among the 
members of those German regiments that have had 
to suffer from the treachery of the former popula- 
tion, and among the widows and children of the 
slain and the wounded. ... 

Factories and industrial plants, whose owners or 
managers have taken part in resistance to our 
army, are to be confiscated and turned over, in cor- 
porate ownership, to suitable workmen who belong 
to the German Army and are ready to take up work 
in such establishments. 

All mines are to become public property of the 
new German Duchy of Belgium, except where they 
are already in private German ownership. 

Every former Belgian who does not declare, 
within four weeks after the official incorporation 
of the former kingdom, that he intends to become 
a German national, must leave the territory of the 
German Empire with his family. 

Similarly, for a period of ten years, every former 
Belgian who commits any offense against the Em- 
pire and its laws is to be expelled from the Im- 
perial territory. 

In accordance with these principles, and in order 
to form a sharply marked national boundary, a 
broad strip of land is to be set off on our entire pres- 
ent and Belgian frontier, in which pure German set- 
tlements shall be established, consisting of men who 
were drawn into service during the war. ... In the 
new German territories compensation can be given 
to those Germans who, in the course of the war, 

130 



UTTERANCES OF ECONOMISTS 

were expelled by our enemies and thus lost their 
homes and occupations. 

The proposals above quoted are notably supple- 
mented from another side in somewhat the follow- 
ing form : 

If we are to remain a strong nation and if we 
are to extend our world power upon a secure basis, 
we need . . . German colonization in the districts 
that fall into our hands. . . . For this purpose it is 
not sufficient that new strips of land in the East 
and in the West come under German imperial 
sovereignty; it is further necessary that landed 
property be acquired directly by the State. This 
is the great goal: not merely a war indemnity in 
cash, but preferably and principally a war indem- 
nity in real estate. ... 

Arthur Dix, "Der Weltwirtschaftskrieg," in the series 
*'Zwischen Krieg und Frieden," Heft 3 (1914), pp. 33-40. 

"Raw materials for war industry" 

Our whole western frontier from South to North 
must be improved, as far as conditions permit .... 
Our boundary must if possible be so drawn — this 
has not previously been the case — that our great 
iron and steel works in Lorraine . . . shall be out 
of the range of the most powerful modern artillery 
in French fortresses. Above all we must secure for 
ourselves, as far as possible, the necessary raw ma- 
terials for war industry, and at the same time take 
them away from our enemies. 

Of the greatest importance are the iron ore 
beds. . . . Without the ores of Lorraine, we should 

131 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

today be unable to maintain our iron and steel pro- 
duction on the scale which this war demands. For- 
tunately we were already able to congratulate our- 
selves on possessing the greatest natural wealth in 
iron ores to be found in any European country. 
This advantage we owed to the victorious war of 
1870-71. The Peace of Frankfort was to have 
given us all the ore in Lorraine. This we did not 
obtain, because the geologists whom Bismarck con- 
sulted in drawing the frontier were in error as to the 
extent of the iron fields. Since the 8o's we know 
that — contrary to Bismarck's view — the broader 
and more important deposits of ore in the plateau 
of Briey . . . were left in the hands of France. 
Today we can make good this serious mistake, since 
we fortunately conquered these districts at the be- 
ginning of the war and hold them firmly in our 
grasp. 

The next most important raw material for our 
war industry is, of course, coal, and especially coke 
coal, from which particularly we gain explosives. 
Just as we should have been unable to carry on the 
war successfully if we could not have satisfied our 
needs for ore in Lorraine, so again we should have 
lacked an indispensable means of success if nature 
had not endowed Germany, particularly the Rhein- 
ish-Westphalian district, and the neighboring dis- 
tricts in Belgium and North France which we have 
occupied, with a supply of coke coal unequalled 
elsewhere in Europe in quantity and in excellence. 
Now that we have learned what the question 
of munitions signifies for the result of the war, 
now that we have already been obliged to use Bel- 

132 



UTTERANCES OF ECONOMISTS 

gian coal for our own purposes, we can and we 
must declare that the vital needs of our nation in 
war and in peace exclude any thought of restoring 
to the enemy these sources of military and economic 
power. . . . 

If we wish to secure for ourselves these treas- 
ures of the soil, mere political cession is not suffi- 
cient. . . . An increase of territory brings with it 
today a real increase of power, particularly when 
it is a question of war industry, only in case full 
ownership makes free production and disposal pos- 
sible. 

As regards the acquisition of such control in ter- 
ritory that has been French, the necessary expendi- 
tures will be charged up against the French war 
indemnity. France, that has so often boasted of 
being a money lender to the world, must be held 
primarily liable with her financial power for our 
economic damages. . . . For relief from the bur- 
den thrust upon her, France may appeal to her ally 
across the Channel, whose rich treasures we shall 
hardly be able to reach directly. . . . 

Prof. Hermann Schumacher, Address delivered June 
20, 1915, in Berlin, printed as "manuscript, strictly con- 
fidential." Schumacher is one of the leading German 
economists. He occupies a chair in Bonn University, and 
was one of the instructors of the Crown Prince. 



If the war ends with a German victory, it is our 
good right ... to annex such districts as are neces- 
sary for supplementing our supply of raw material, 
such as the ore beds in the neighborhood of Metz. 

Prof. Sieveking, "Unsere Aufgaben" (1915), p. 30- 
133 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

The cure for "land shortage" 

Because our territory was not increased, we have 
been transformed from a country people into a 
city people, from an agricultural into an industrial 
people. . . . The disturbance of the proper balance 
which has resulted, and which is an evil thing, can 
be remedied permanently and thoroughly only by a 
sufficient increase of territory. Shortage of land 
can be cured only by the taking of land. . . . 

Leopold von Vietinghoff, "Die Sicherheiten der 
deutschen Zukunft" (1915), pp. 10, 12. 

"Pressure to the Ocean." Naval bases 

We must seek beyond the waters of the North 
Sea a naval base which in future shall give us, in 
this part of the world at least, the same chances 
that England possesses. . . . 

We need bases at the entrance and at the exit of 
the Channel ; we need strong bases over sea. . . . 

Albert Ballin, General Director of the Hamburg-Amer- 
ican Line, in the "Frankfurter Zeitung" (Jan. 4, 1915), 
and in the "Magdeburgische Zeitung" (Oct. 21, 1915). 

The whole history of Brandenburg, of Prussia 
and of Germany, including its continuation in the 
history of the Triple Alliance, may be regarded as 
a manifestation through the centuries of pressure 
to the ocean. . . . Now it is a question of complet- 
ing the work ... of consolidating more thoroughly 
the German-Austrian alliance and of pushing the 
German coast to the Channel, to the gate of the 
open Atlantic. 

134 



UTTERANCES OF ECONOMISTS 

This IS what England avowedly most dreads. 
Just for this reason we can neither let Belgium es- 
cape from our control nor renounce our aim to keep 
the coast — from Ostend to the mouth of the Somme, 
if possible— from falling again into the hands of any 
State that can become a vassal of England. ... ' 

Dix, "Der Weltwirtschaftskrieg," in the series, 
*'Zwischen Krieg und Frieden/' Heft 3 (1914), p. 32. 

Not alone for the protection of our native soil 
but also for the protection of our world trade and 
our colonies Belgium is indispensable to us. We 
cannot deprive England of the geographical advan- 
tage of her insular position. It will always be 
difficult for us to attack her in land warfare, so long 
as she stays on her islands. But at sea we can make 
England more assailable. . . . 

Even more than upon her great colonial pos- 
sessions, England's position in world commerce 
rests upon her control of the greatest highway of 
trade on our planet, that which reaches from the 
English coast through the Suez Canal and the Red 
Sea to India, Australia and Eastern Asia. On this 
highway England early and adroitly established 
points of control. We shall hardly be able to drive 
her out of these positions, but we should follow 
her prudent example. . . . I think, for instance, of 
French Somaliland with Djibuti at the southern en- 
trance of the Red Sea opposite Aden, of a harbor in 
North Morocco opposite Gibraltar, and of a Turk- 
ish base in the eastern basin of the Mediterranean 
as near as possible to the Suez Canal. . . . 

Schumacher, Address (cited above, p. 133). 
135 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

In England the notion that we could be starved 
out by cutting off our sea communications has as- 
suredly played a decisive role. The English have 
been constantly renewing their belief that our 
power of resistance could be broken by want of 
copper, benzine, petroleum, rubber, cotton, wool, 
etc. It is therefore quite clear that the existence 
of all these supplies within our future economic 
domain would be one of the firmest guaranties of 
peace. . . . 

Marvelous are the ways of the Lord! England 
believed that she could strike us a mortal and an- 
nihilating blow; instead of that, she is giving us a 
rapid course of training to complete our education 
in world politics. She lit up the situation as with 
a flash of lightning; she wrote indelibly in charac- 
ters of fire on every German heart: You need 
cables that stretch around the world, wireless sta- 
tions that bridge over lands and seas. You must 
have firm bases, harbors, wharves and docks on 
every sea. . . . You must break the English castles 
that guard the gates of the Ocean. . . . 

Hans Sonnenschmidt, "Deutschland am Wendepunkt 
zum Aufstieg" (1915); PP- I53 ^^ ^^<1' 



A German settlement in South China 

In spite of the defeats they have suffered, our 
enemies are arming themselves for the coming com- 
petition in trade. For this reason we must recog- 
nize the demands of the future as commands of the 
present. . . . 

Very promising are the iron ore beds in China. 
136 



UTTERANCES OF ECONOMISTS 

China is an iron land of the first class. ... As in 
the matter of railroad concessions, so also in the 
matter of mining opportunities, we must act 
promptly and secure the business. . . . 

Hong Kong can no longer remain a central sta- 
tion of German trade in South China. We intend 
to have our own trade center, and for this purpose 
we need a German settlement on the south Chinese 
coast. ... 

The Germans in China should form a great or- 
ganization, working in the service of German aims, 
and rendering obedience to common requirements. 

Wolf von Dewall, "Deutschland und China nach dem 
Kriege" (1916), pp. 59,76, 80, 102, 104. 



CHAPTER VII 

UTTERANCES OF PARTY LEADERS 

I. PARTY DECLARATIONS 

Annexationist utterances of party committees 

In the West especially, the territory necessary to 
secure and strengthen our power on sea and land, 
from political, military and economic points of view, 
is to be added to the German Empire. In the East, 
we must acquire not only frontiers that are strate- 
gically better, but also new soil for settlement. Fi- 
nally, our possessions oversea are to be developed 
in extent and in character. . . . 

Resolution of the Central Committee of the National 
Liberal Party, June, 1915. 

The Committee knows itself to be at one with the 
whole Conservative Party and with the whole Ger- 
man people in the determination to shrink from no 
further sacrifice that is necessary to carry on the 
war until a peace is concluded that shall be lasting 
and honorable and that shall secure the bases of the 
German future. We shall, of course, support all 
demands for such territorial gains as seem neces- 
sary for this purpose. 

Resolution of the Executive Committee of the German 
Conservative Party, Oct. 9, 191 5. 

138 



UTTERANCES OF PARTY LEADERS 

The fearful sacrifices which the war is imposing 
on our nation call for a stronger protection of our 
territory in the East and in the West, such as 
shall discourage our enemies from again attacking 
us and shall assure permanent economic provision 
for our growing population. To this increased 
security for our Empire must be added similar se- 
curity for the States in alliance with us. 

Resolution adopted by the General Committee of the 
Center Party for the Empire, at a meeting held in Frank- 
fort, Oct. 24-25, 1915. 

The Central Committee of the Progressive Peo- 
ple's Party ... is convinced that the terms of peace 
will bring to the German Empire — not, as our ene- 
mies are still today declaring, at best the reestablish- 
ment of the status before the war — but rather a dur- 
able protection against foreign attacks and a per- 
manent increase of its power, its prosperity and, so 
far as its security seems to require, of its territory 
also. 

Resolution adopted Dec. 4, 191 5. 

The German people . . . are firmly and unani- 
mously convinced that their heavy sacrifices in 
-wealth and in blood . . . must not have been mada 
in vain. They demand as the goal of peace a Ger- 
many strengthened in its entire position of power, 
considerably expanded beyond its former bounda- 
ries by the retention, as far as possible, of the dis- 
tricts now occupied, and indemnified for its finan- 
cial expenditures. 

Resolution adopted at a meeting of the Free Conserva- 
tive Party, held in Berlin, December 5-6, 1915. 

139 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Joint declaration favoring annexations 

In full unity, with quiet determination — and, per- 
mit me to add, with trust in God — we await the 
hour when a peace can be made that shall secure 
permanently the military, economic, financial and 
political interests of Germany in their whole ex- 
tent and by all means, including such acquisitions 
of territory as are necessary for this purpose. 

Declaration read in the Reichstag, December 9, 191 5, 
by Deputy Spahn, President of the Center Party, in the 
name of all the parties except the Social Democrats. 
Excluding these, and also the Poles, the Alsace-Lor- 
rainers and the Danish member from North Schleswig, 
Spahn's declaration was supported by 254 members, rep- 
resenting two-thirds of the total electorate of the Em- 
pire. See Grumbach, "Das annexionistische Deutsch- 
land,'' p. 33. 



II. UTTERANCES OF SINGLE LEADERS 

"Mistakes need not be repeated" 

Moderation in our demands may be carried too 
far ; once already we have carried it too far. Under 
the present circumstances I cannot speak, I am 
sorry to say, of the form which the map of our 
country is to assume in the future. As regards the 
past I will say only one thing: that our failure 
either to take or to raze Belfort in 1870 was a mis- 
take, and mistakes need not be repeated. 

Dr. Pachnicke, Progressive member of the Reichstag, 
Speech at Frankfort, Nov. 23, 1914. 

140 



UTTERANCES OF PARTY LEADERS 

"German blood manure" not to be wasted 

We are sure that the German eagle will spread 
its wings victoriously and soar to greater heights 
than ever before. And we shall know how to hold 
firmly for all time the territories that have been 
manured (gedungt) with German blood. 

Bassermann, National Liberal member of the Reich- 
stag, Speech reported in the Berlin papers (Dec. 5, 1914). 

Why Belgians should desire German protection 

The Belgian question is not an affair of the Bel- 
gians only. . . . One thing, however, may be said : 
Were I a Belgian deputy, I should say: One thing 
above all others! We must get out of our pres- 
ent unsafe position of neutrality! That is only 
self-deception. It leads only to making Belgium 
the arena of war for the three Powers, Germany, 
England and France. We must establish a connec- 
tion, at least a military connection, with one of 
these three Powers, so that in case of war we may 
have protection in advance against any peril that 
threatens us. . . . From the economic point of 
view I would then add: Our connection must be 
with our economic hinterland — connection with 
Germany. 

Peus-Dessau, Social Democratic member of the Reichs- 
tag, in the Lausanne "Menschheit," no. 15 (January 2, 
1915). 

Territorial indemnities. No plebiscites 

The financial condition of our enemies certainly 
excludes any complete indemnity in money for our 

141 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

costs and losses in this war. Since, however, we 
have not the slightest reason to abandon full in- 
demnity, another form must be chosen. . . . Favor- 
able commercial treaties, mining and railroad con- 
cessions and the like may be taken into considera- 
tion, but also acquisitions of territory. The ore 
fields of French Lorraine and of Russian Poland 
form the natural and, to a certain extent, the abso- 
lutely necessary complement of our own ore fields. 

We have also to think of the acquisition of 
European and colonial territory that is important 
for our export trade. . . . 

If our aim be a peace that promises to be durable, 
it must include everything in the way of acquisi- 
tion of territory which the General Staff considers 
necessary to avert the peril of future wars, and no 
consideration for enemy countries or peoples should 
restrain us in the fulfillment of these demands. In. 
particular no regard should be paid to the imagin- 
ary right of the inhabitants of districts that are to 
be annexed to determine their own destiny. 

Von Zedlitz-Neukirch, Free Conservative member of 
the Prussian Diet, in the "Tag" (Jan. 24 and 31, 1915). 



What territories Russia must cede 

It is decidedly a moral duty of the German Em- 
pire not to leave the German element on the Baltic 
nor the Letts and Lithuanians any longer under the 
. . . Government of Russia. 

That in case of defeat in a war with Germany 
Russia would be obliged to count on loss of ter- 
ritory, particularly on the loss of all Russian Poland 

142 



UTTERANCES OF PARTY LEADERS 

and even of the territory to the North as far as the 
Dvina, General Kuropatkin openly admitted in his 
"Reminiscences of the Russian-Japanese War." . . 

What has thus far been Russian Lithuania . . . 
is thoroughly satisfied ... to constitute a wedge 
or buffer set between the Teuton and the Slav 
world. ... It is, however, of the greatest impor- 
tance that this new State shall be brought into a 
close relation with Germany, its army being placed 
under supreme German command and its territory 
included in the German customs frontier. . . . 

Dr. Gaigalat, member of the Prussian Diet, in "Grenz- 
boten," no. 8 (Feb. 24, 1915), pp. 336, 337, 339. 



Channel ports required 

Of what advantage to us are the greatest and 
fairest colonial dominions, if a ruthless foe is able 
at any moment to cut us off from the world? . . . 
Free access to the ocean, freer and more assured 
than ever before, is the object for which the whole 
nation is resolved to fight ... to its last mark and 
its last man. . . . 

Count von Westarp, Free Conservative member of the 
Reichstag, Speech in Hamburg, April 3, 191 5. 

Annexations West and East 

We are not to speak at present of the aims of 
peace, but it must be declared that the heart of 
every German is animated by the desire not to sur- 
render the hostile territory that has been won with 
so much German blood. We must get a footing on 

143 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

the English Channel, even if we have to start all 
over again and conquer a second time the old 
fortresses that block our way. The German people 
demand also that we shall safeguard ourselves in 
the East against new incursions of the Russian 
hordes. The pen must not again be permitted to 
sacrifice what the sword has obtained. 

Paasche, National Liberal member and Vice-President 
of the Reichstag, Speech in Kreuznach, April i8, 1915. 

Peace negotiations are possible only on the basis 
of the actual situation. Belgium has violated its 
neutrality and destroyed itself, and what concerns 
us is that it shall not remain a vassal of England. 
Against Russia we must build a wall of defense 
on which the Slav wave will be broken. As re- 
gards France, what is to be considered is the gate 
of the nations between the Jura and the Vosges, 
and the crest of the Vosges. 

Dr. Pachnicke, Progressive member of the Reichstag, 
Speech delivered in May, 191 5, in various German cities. 



A misinterpreted imperial utterance 

These sentences [of the Chancellor, regarding 
"real guaranties and securities"] will undoubtedly 
find energetic assent in the widest circles of the 
nation. They repeat the thoughts previously ex- 
pressed by the Chancellor, in his great war speech 
of December 2, 1914, in more definite and tangible 
form, and they are therefore adapted, perhaps di- 
rectly intended, to counteract the misconceptions 
that have been occasioned in many quarters by the 

144 



UTTERANCES OF PARTY LEADERS 

declaration in the Speech from the Throne, August 
4, 19 14, that we are waging no war of conquest. 

Von Zedlitz-Neukirch, Free Conservative member of 
the Prussian Diet, in the "Post," May 29, 1915. The 
Chancellor's remarks, May 28, 191 5, will be found above, 
p. 22. 

A German protectorate of Belgium 

A complete reestablishment of the old political 
relations in Belgium must, in my opinion, be re- 
garded as an impossibility. . . . After this war 
Belgium would be neither more nor less than a 
French or English settlement, without any inde- 
pendent political significance. . . . 

The neutraUty, which for a long time has existed 
only on paper . . . was actually ... a misfortune 
for Belgium. . . . Protection can be given to Bel- 
gium only by a single neighboring and greatly su- 
perior Continental Power, that guarantees to the 
country peace and security, undisturbed develop- 
ment and the necessary degree of internal liberty, 
and which gives this guaranty not on paper, but 
through its actual power. 

Ernst Miiller-Meiningen, Progressive leader and mem- 
ber of the Reichstag, "Belgische Eindriicke und Aus- 
blicke" (1916), pp. 29-32. This pamphlet elicited a let- 
ter of indorsement from von Bissing, Governor General 
of Belgium. See above, pp. 24-25. 



The correct idea of "a lasting peace" 

The expression, "a. lasting peace," was coined in 
certain German circles before a single battle was 

145 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

fought or a single German victory won. It . . » 
meant : You must not take anything at all away from, 
the enemy, for otherwise he will be obliged to re- 
venge himself upon you. A lasting peace in this 
sense we do not desire. We wish a lasting peace 
in which the borders of the German garden are 
pushed so far out toward the East and the West, 
that outsiders shall find it difficult to throw stones 
again into our garden. 

Pastor Traub, Progressive member of the Prussian. 
Diet, Speech delivered in Duisburg, May 22, 1916. 



A peace "made in Germany" 

Let us conclude no peace except one that gives 
Germany greater power on the sea, new coaling 
stations, new points of support for its fleet and 
new areas for settlement — a peace "made in Ger- 
many." 

Dr. Beumer, National Liberal member of the Prussian 
Diet, Address to the Chamber of Commerce of Bremeny 
October 3, 1915. 

"The line of the Naref * 

If for the better defense of Germany in the East 
the annexation of the line of the Naref is actually 
required, can any German voice a protest? 

Dr. Landsberg, Social Democratic member of the 
Reichstag, remarks made in a party caucus. These re- 
marks were reported by Ledebour, a member of the dis- 
senting Socialist group, in the "Frankfurter Volks- 
stimme" (January 6, 1916). Ledebour pointed out that 
the frontier proposed by Landsberg would include Maso- 

146 



UTTERANCES OF PARTY LEADERS 

vian, Polish and Lithuanian territory with something like 
5,000,000 non-German inhabitants. See Grumbach, p. 113. 

The German nation's divinely appointed goal 

The expression, 'Veal guaranties," is no mere 
phrase. ... Is it dangerous to the State to de- 
clare openly that our frontiers must be advanced in 
the West and in the East? . . . Are we to forbid 
our mouths to say what is in fact on every lip and 
in every heart? Are we to suppress the fact that 
the surrender of Kurland would be completely un- 
intelligible to German sentiment? . . . The object 
of this war is not alone the securing of an honor- 
able peace, not alone the freedom of the seas and 
of our economic life, not alone a greater Germany- 
even, but our final aim in the war is the attainment 
of the world-historic goal which a Higher Power 
has set up particularly for the German nation. 

Dr. Oertel, Conservative member of the Reichstag, 
Speech in the Reichstag, January 18, 191 6. 

Strategic demands 

Arrangements must, of course, be made for stop- 
ping up the hole in the Vosges and for making it 
impossible that Thorn shall be reached by guns 
of even the greatest range in Russian fortresses. 

Oskar Geek, Social Democratic member of the Reichs- 
tag, Speech delivered at Karlsruhe, February 2, 1916. 

"Ideals kindle no enthusiasm" 

From above, we have keynote phrases such as 
''protection of small nations," and ''freedom of the 

147 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

seas." These are ideal, not real things. They 
kindle no enthusiasm. For this purpose we need 
the announcement of great aims. ... If we do 
not overthrow our enemies in this war, there is 
risk of our becoming a second-class nation. 

Bacmeister, National Liberal member of the Prussian 
Diet, Speech in the Diet, February 23, 1916. 

Practical uses of history 

Students of history should make use of our news- 
papers more than they do, and should speak of the 
past of the Flemish territory, of the past of Kur- 
land, of the Low German character of the Flemish 
population and of the historic Order of the Teu- 
tonic Knights. At times it may be annoying to 
keep the last sentence of such articles back in one's 
pen. But is it always necessary to dot all one's 
i*s? Anyone who knows how to read articles of 
the historical sort will know how to "put the dot on 
the i" for himself. 

Pastor Munn, Christian Socialist member of the 
Reichstag, in the "Berliner Neueste Nachrichten" (March 
29, 1916). 

Bethmann-HoUweg's implications 

The aims of peace must be aims of power. . . . 
In the East the Imperial Chancellor has indicated 
the tangible outcome with some precision. As re- 
gards the West he has expressed himself with 
greater caution. As regards Belgium he has told 
us that precautions must be taken that this coun- 
try shall no longer be a bulwark of England but 

148 



UTTERANCES OF PARTY LEADERS 

must be — that is undoubtedly the necessary im- 
plication of what he has said — under our political, 
military and economic control. 

Spahn, member of the Reichstag, leader of the Center 
Party, Speech in the Reichstag, April 5, 191 6. 

Landmarks must be removed 

If in the treaty of peace we succeed in securing 
for the Flemings the chance to develop their own 
culture on the basis of their own language, is that 
forcible subjugation? Against any subjugation that 
might be proposed in this matter we [Social Demo- 
crats] should be compelled to take a position of 
decided opposition. The Imperial Chancellor has 
said: "The Europe that will emerge from this war 
will in many of its parts be unlike the old Europe. 
History knows no status quo ante after monstrous 
events." One must be a political infant to persuade 
himself that a whole continent can be set on fire, 
millions of men killed and bleeding, without the re- 
moval of a single landmark placed by some musty 
old diplomatist. 

Philipp Scheidemann, Speech on behalf of the majority 
of the Social Democratic Party in the Reichstag, April 
6, 1916. 



CHAPTER VIII 

UTTERANCES OF MILITARY WRITERS 
I. GLORIFICATION OF WAR 

"A radiant crown" 

Some great sentiment must stimulate great abili- 
ties in the General, either ambition, as in Caesar, 
hatred of the enemy, as in Hannibal, or the pride 
of falling gloriously, as in Frederick the Great. 

Open your heart to a feeling of this kind. Be 
bold and astute in your designs, firm and perse- 
vering in executing them, determined to find a 
glorious end, and destiny will press on your youth- 
ful brow a radiant crown — fit emblem of a Prince, 
the rays of which will carry your image into the 
bosom of your latest descendants. 

Gen. Carl von Clausewitz, "On War" (1832); trans- 
lated by Col. F. N, Maude (1911), vol. iii, p. 229. The 
passage cited will be found in the author's "Instructions 
to the Prussian Crown Prince" (1812). 

The army the basis of civilization 

The army takes the first place among the insti- 
tutions of every country. It alone makes possible 
the existence of all the other institutions. All 

150 



UTTERANCES OF MILITARY WRITERS 

political and civil liberty, all the creations of 
civilization, the finances, the State itself, stand and 
fall with the army. 

Field Marshal Count Helmuth von Moltke, Speech in 
the Reichstag, Jan. ii, 1887. 



War instituted by God 

Perpetual peace is a dream, and it is not even 
a beautiful dream. War is part of the eternal or- 
der instituted by God. . . . 

Moltke, Letter to Bluntschli, Dec. 11, 1880. 



Biology, civilization, idealism and Christianity 
demand war 

. . . War is not merely a necessary element in 
the life of nations, but an indispensable factor of 
culture, in which a truly civilized nation finds the 
highest expression of strength and vitality. . . . 

War gives a biologically just decision, since its 
decisions rest on the very nature of things. ... 
It is not only a biological law, but a moral obliga- 
tion, and, as such, an indispensable factor in civiliza- 
tion. . . . 

As human life is now constituted, it is political 
idealism which calls for war, while materialism — 
in theory, at least — repudiates it. . . . 

The brutal incidents inseparable from every 
war vanish completely before the idealism of the 
main result. 

Christ Himself said: "I am not come to send 
peace on earth, but a sword." His teaching can 

151 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

never be adduced as an argument against the uni- 
versal law of struggle. There never was a religion 
that was more combative than Christianity. Com- 
bat, moral combat, is its very essence. 

Gen. Friedrich von Bernhardi, "Germany and the Next 
War"; translated by A. H. Powles (Longmans, Green & 
Co., 1912), pp. 6, 15, 17, 18, 20, 2.2, 



The diffusion of "culture" by war 

It lies in the nature of a fully developed State — 
the history of all ages confirms it — to feel the 
need of forcing the greatest possible number of 
the inhabitants of the earth into the domain of 
its culture. The greater the pride felt by each 
single citizen in belonging to just this State, his 
own and no other; the fuller his consciousness 
that the cultural elements that live in him place 
him morally above his neighbors — the stronger 
becomes his impulse to be a political teacher and 
educator. Highly developed cultural nations con- 
quer to educate, to extend their culture to others. 

So the haughty Romans strode over the world as 
teachers of a majestic political and cultural 
thought; and in their footsteps trod the Teutons, 
under the leadership of the Carolingian, Saxon, 
Franconian and Hohenstaufen Emperors. . . . 
For the French world there arose in Napoleon I 
the great herald and teacher of culture promoted 
by the policy of force. . . . May a like Titan be 
vouchsafed to us, that the world may be healed 
by the German nature. 

And the graves that line the roads of glory, the 
152 



UTTERANCES OF MILITARY WRITERS 

stench of robbery, pillage and theft that hangs 
about these millions of graves? Must culture 
build its cathedrals on hills of corpses, seas of 
tears, and the death-rattle of the vanquished? 
Yes, it must. These accompaniments of the ex- 
pansion of culture may be regarded, if one will, 
as the pudenda of glory; but without these organs 
there would be no victory, no multiplication, no 
conquest and no fertilization. . . . 

Either it must be denied that culture is a bless- 
ing to humanity, and dreams of Arcadian simplicity 
must be accepted, or the right to rule must be ac- 
corded to one's nation. In the latter case, the 
power of the conqueror becomes the supreme moral 
law to which the vanquished must submit. Vae 
victisi 

Lt. Karl A. Kuhn, Instructor in Military History, Char- 
lottenburg, "Die wahren Ursachen des Weltkrieges" 
(1914), pp. 10, II. 

II. WAR. LAW AND HUMANITY 



Laws of war "hardly worth mentioning" 

War is an act of violence intended to compel our 
opponent to fulfill our will. Violence arms itself 
with the inventions of art and science in order to 
contend against violence. Self-imposed restric- 
tions, almost imperceptible and hardly worth men- 
tioning, termed usages of International Law, ac- 
company it without essentially impairing its 
power. . . . 

Clausewitz, "On War," vol. i, p. 2. 
153 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

"A spirit of benevolence" dangerous 

Philanthropists may easily imagine that there 
is a skillful method of . . . overcoming an enemy 
without causing great bloodshed, and that this is 
the proper tendency of the art of war. However 
plausible this may appear, still it is an error which 
must be extirpated; for in such dangerous things 
as war, the errors which proceed from a spirit of 
benevolence are the worst. . . . He who uses force 
unsparingly, without reference to the bloodshed 
involved, must obtain a superiority if his adversary 
uses less vigor in its application. The former then 
dictates the law to the latter. . . . 

To introduce into the philosophy of war itself a 
principle of moderation would be an absurdity. 
Clausewitz, ibid., vol. i, pp. 2, 3. 



Errors of the seventeenth century 

Plundering and devastating the enemy's country, 
which play such an important part with Tartars, 
with ancient nations, and even in the Middle Ages, 
were no longer in accordance with the spirit of the 
age [of Louis XIV]. They were justly looked 
upon as unnecessary barbarity, which might easily 
induce reprisals, which did more injury to the 
enemy's subjects than to the enemy's Government 
and which therefore produced no effect beyond 
throwing the nation back many stages in all that 
relates to peaceful arts and civilization. War, 
therefore, confined itself more and more, both as 
regards means and end, to the army itself. . . . 

154 



UTTERANCES OF MILITARY WRITERS 

Although there lay in this an error . .. . still, upon 
the whole, this change had a beneficial effect for 
the people; only it is not to be denied that it 
had a tendency to make war still more an affair 
of the State, and to separate it still more from the 
interests of the people. 

Clausewitz, ibid., vol. iii, pp. 98, 99. 



Reversion of war toward "its absolute perfection" 

Since the time of Buonaparte, war, through be- 
ing first on one side, then again on the other, an 
affair of the whole nation, has assumed quite a 
new nature, or rather it has approached much 
nearer to its real nature, to its absolute perfec- 
tion. . . . The object of its action was the down- 
fall of the foe ; and not until the enemy lay power- 
less on the ground was it supposed to be possible 
to stop or to come to any understanding with 
respect to the mutual objects of the contest. 

Thus, therefore, the element of war, freed from 
all conventional restrictions, broke loose, with all 
its natural force. 

Clausewitz, ibid., vol. iii, pp. 102, 103. 



Military necessity versus the laws of war 

Military action must be determined solely in ac- 
cordance with those conditions which usually pre- 
vail in war; in this sense its procedure is com- 
pletely ruthless. For the individual soldier mur- 
der and ill-treatment, robbery and pillage are 
crimes and offenses whether committed in war or 

155 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

in peace. It goes without saying that, in actual 
warfare, it is hardly ever possible to draw a sharp 
line between these two courses of action on the 
part of the fighting forces. 

When war supplants peace, force and passion 
make their entry upon the great stage of history, 
push aside the artificial structure of peace with its 
inherited and documented law . . . and become ab- 
solutely dominant. . . . 

The effect which any military action may have 
in overcoming the enemy is of decisive significance 
in determining its moral value. Here it is quite 
immaterial whether the anticipated effect can ac- 
tually be attained; the question is only whether 
the person responsible for the action was entitled 
to expect a successful result. Suffering and in- 
jury inflicted upon the enemy are the indispensable 
methods of bending and breaking his will. . . . 
Military action can be regarded as barbarous and 
worthy of condemnation only when it is taken with- 
out any such purpose or when it is out of all pro- 
portion to the purpose to be achieved. What 
seems harshness and rigor is really the opposite, 
if it is adopted to force the adversary to sue for 
peace. Forbearance and mildness have the effect 
of cruelty, if they disregard the object of war and 
delay the conclusion of peace. . . . 

Rights which the war power has to respect can 
exist only in so far as they are expressly conceded, 
recognized or maintained by that power. ... If 
the war power admits duties, it imposes them 
upon itself by virtue of its own supremacy ; it does 

156 



UTTERANCES OF MILITARY WRITERS 

not regard them as imposed upon itself by any ex- 
ternal authority. 

It must, of course, be conceded that States may 
impose upon their war power obligations which 
limit its action permanently or in particular cases. 
... In this matter, however, States cannot per- 
mit themselves to be guided by general principles 
of law. They must necessarily omit from any 
rules that they adopt everything that may possibly 
check or impair the freedom and effectiveness of 
military action. . . . 

Unconditioned freedom of military action in war 
is an indispensable condition of military success. 
This is the principle which must be invoked from 
a military point of view against every effort to 
fetter action by an international law of war. 

Gen. Julius von Hartmann, "Militarische Notwendigkeit 
und Humanitat," in the "Deutsche Rundschau," vol. xiii 
(1877), pp. 1 1 6-1 17, 122-124, vol. xiv (1878), p. 89. 



War must be conducted more ruthlessly 

It would be yielding to voluntary self-deception 
not to recognize that at the present time war must 
be conducted much more ruthlessly and much more 
violently, and that it must come much nearer to 
affecting the entire population, than has previously 
been the case. . . . 

Utterances of approved legal authorities and 
precedents found in international settlements can 
hardly claim full authority in the law of war . . . 
because military situations necessarily vary and 
military problems are therefore subjected to per- 

157 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

sonal judgment, which can recognize no other law 
than that of military necessity. 

Hartmann, ibid.j vol. xiv, pp. 90, 91. 



A wide field for "arbitrary judgment" 

A war conducted with energy cannot be directed 
merely against the combatants of the enemy State 
and the positions they occupy, but it will and must 
in like manner seek to destroy the total spiritual 
and material resources of the latter. . . . 

Consequently the "argument of war" permits 
every belligerent State to have recourse to all means 
which enable it to attain the object of the war. 
Practice, indeed, has taught the advisability of 
allowing in one's own interest the introduction of 
a limitation in the use of certain methods of war 
and a total renunciation of the use of others. . . . 
But since the tendency of thought of the last cen- 
tury was dominated essentially by humanitarian 
considerations which not infrequently degenerated 
into sentimentality and flabby emotionalism, there 
have not been wanting attempts to influence the 
development of the usages of war in a way which 
was in fundamental contradiction with the nature 
of war and its object. 

By steeping himself in military history an officer 
will be able to guard himself against excessive hu- 
manitarian notions. It will teach him that certain 
severities are indispensable to war, nay more, that 
the only true humanity very often lies in a ruth- 
less application of them. 

What is permissible includes every means of war 

158 



UTTERANCES OF MILITARY WRITERS 

without which the object of the war cannot be ob- 
tained; what is reprehensible on the other hand 
includes every act of violence and destruction which 
is not demanded by the object of the war. 

It follows from these universally valid principles 
that wide limits are given to the subjective free- 
dom and arbitrary judgment of the commanding 
officer. 

"Kriegsgebrauch," published under the auspices of the 
German General Staff; translation, "The German War 
Book," by J. H. Morgan (1915). PP- 5^, 54, 55, 64. 

"Grow hard, warriors !" 

War is not a work of charity, and in the soldier's 
heart there is no compassion. 

The soldier must be hard. Grow hard, warriors ! 

It is better to let a hundred women and children 
belonging to the enemy die of hunger than to let 
a single German soldier suffer. 

Gen. von der Goltz, 'The Ten Iron Commandments of 
the German Soldiers"; cited in "Juges par eux-memes," 
P- 74. 

Application of the theory 

The country suffers. Lodz is starving. It is de- 
plorable, but it is for the best. War is not carried 
on sentimentally. The more merciless, the kinder 
it really is ; because it will end so much the quicker. 
Those war methods which bring peace most 
promptly are and will always remain the most 
merciful ones. 

Gen. von Hindenburg, cited in "J^ges par eux-memes," 
p. 86. 

159 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 
HI. CONDUCT OF WAR 

Right and duty of aggression 

. . . Under certain circumstances, it is not only 
the right, but also the moral and political duty of the 
statesman to bring about a war. . . . 

The lessons of history . . . confirm the view 
that wars which have been deliberately provoked 
by far-seeing statesmen have had the happiest re- 
sults. . . . 

A surprise attack, in order to be justified, must 
be made in the first place only on the armed forces 
of the hostile State, not on peaceful inhabitants. 
A further necessary preliminary condition is that 
the tension of the political situation brings the 
possibility or probability of a war clearly before 
the eyes of both parties, so that an expectation of, 
and preparations for, war can be assumed. Other- 
wise the attack becomes a treacherous crime. . . . 

Of course, it can be urged that an attack is just 
what would produce an unfavorable position for 
us, since it creates the conditions on which the 
Franco-Russian alliance would be brought into 
activity. . . . Let it then be the task of our di- 
plomacy so to shuffle the cards that we may be 
attacked. . . . This view undoubtedly deserves at- 
tention, but we must not hope to bring about this 
attack by waiting passively. Neither France nor 
Russia nor England need to attack in order to fur- 
ther their interests. 

Bernhardi, "Germany and the Next War," pp. 35, 39, 
179-180, 244, 290. 

160 



UTTERANCES OF MILITARY WRITERS 

The commonplaces as to the responsibility of 
the aggressor must be disregarded. . . . We must 
forestall our principal adversary as soon as there 
are nine chances in ten that we are going to have 
war. 

General von Moltke, Chief of Staff at the outbreak of 
the World War; Report of Jules Cambon, French Am- 
bassador in Berlin (May 6, 1913). "French Yellow 
Book," doc. no. 3. 

We Pan-Germanists are often and easily ac- 
cused of inciting to war, and we old generals who 
are represented in the Pan-Germanist Association 
are especially charged with loving war for its own 
sake. This is not in the least the case. We do not 
love war for its own sake. . . . Not in order to test 
in serious battle the effect of rapid-fire cannon and 
machine guns . . . have we desired this war, but be- 
cause we regard it as necessary in view of the wrong 
line of development which our nation threatened to 
take, and because we were conscious that the more 
resolutely and promptly a people which in any event 
is to be forced to fight for its existence chooses a 
favorable moment for drawing the sword, the more 
easily will the war be conducted and the lighter will 
be the sacrifices. . . . 

Gen. Baron von Gebsattel, in "Der Panther," no. 10 
(Oct., 1915), pp. 1178-1179. 



Objects of invasion 

. . . Invasion ... is the occupation of the 
enemy's territory, not with a view to keeping it, but 

161 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

in order to levy contributions upon it or to devastate 
it. 

The immediate object here is neither the con- 
quest of the enemy's territory nor the defeat of 
his armed force, but merely to do him damage in 
a general way. 

Clausewitz, "On War," vol. i, p. 33. 

Terrorizing occupied territories 

. . . Terror seems relatively the milder method of 
holding in subjection masses of people who have 
been thrown out of the normal and regular condi- 
tions of peace. . . . The mass of the people, if in 
their passionate excitement they oppose force with 
force, can be restrained from excesses only by 
using drastic methods of combating any such 
paroxysm. If individuals suffer for the sake of a 
warning example, their fate is deeply to be la- 
mented; but for the whole body of people the 
severity exercised against these individuals oper- 
ates wholesomely and is a benefit. Wherever 
popular war breaks out, terrorism becomes a mili- 
tary necessity. 

Bluntschli, Jacquemyns and others . . . object 
to imposing upon towns in which offenses have 
been committed fines which exceed the amount of 
damage that has been done; they condemn the 
burning of villages from which civilians have at- 
tacked troops; they refuse their assent to the tak- 
ing of hostages, whose arrest is to prevent illegal 
acts on the part of the population. . . . Military 

162 



UTTERANCES OF MILITARY WRITERS 

realism, in listening to such utterances, silently 
shrugs its shoulders. 

Hartmann, in the "Deutsche Rundschau," vol. 13, p. 
462. 

Living on the country 

The due execution of . . . requisitions is en- 
forced by detachments placed under the orders 
of the official functionaries, but still more by the 
fear of responsibility, punishment, and ill-treatment 
which, in such cases, presses on the whole popula- 
tion like a general weight. 

This resource has no limits except those of the 
exhaustion, impoverishment and devastation of the 
country; ... at the same time, even an invader, 
when his stay is prolonged in his enemy's country, 
is not usually so barbarous and reckless as to lay 
upon that country the entire burden of his sup- 
port. . . . But here naturally arises the question: 
Shall the war prescribe the system of subsistence, 
or shall the latter dictate the nature of the war? 
To this we answer: The system of subsistence will 
control the war, as far as the other conditions on 
which it depends permit; but when the latter are 
encroached upon, the war will react on the sub- 
sistence system, and in such case determine the 
same. 

Whatever method of providing subsistence may 
be chosen, it is but natural that it would be more 
easily carried out in rich and well-peopled coun- 
tries, than in the midst of a poor and scanty popu- 

163 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

lation. . . . There is infinitely less difficulty in 
supporting an army in Flanders than in Poland. 
Clausewitz, *'0n War," vol. ii, pp. 97-98, loi, 103. 



Military requisitions: theory versus practice 

The system of requisitions goes far beyond the 
taking of means of subsistence from the country in 
which war is being conducted; it includes the en- 
tire exploitation of that country in every way, ac- 
cording to the needs of the operating army as re- 
gards facilitating and furthering its action and as 
regards the permanence and security of its position. 
. . . This implies that military necessity can make 
no distinction between public and private property, 
that it is entitled to take what it needs wherever 
and however it can. . . . 

It will be said that the modern law of war does 
not prohibit requisitions, that it recognizes their 
legitimacy and demands only that they shall be 
made in an orderly and regular manner and that, 
in so far as private rights are violated, compensa- 
tion shall in principle be accorded to the persons 
injured. . . . Here again, however, the funda- 
mental principle of all warfare must not be ignored ; 
the hostile State is not to be spared the suffering 
and privations of warfare; these are particularly 
adapted to break its energy and to coerce its will. 
. . . The State at war must spare its own means 
for conducting war and must injure and destroy 
those of the enemy. 

Hartmann, in the "Deutsche Rundschau,'* vol. xiii, p. 
459. 

164 



UTTERANCES OF MILITARY WRITERS 

Article 40 of the Declaration of Brussels re- 
quires that the requisitions (being written out) shall 
bear a direct relation to the capacity and resources 
©f a country, and, indeed, the justification for this 
condition would be willingly recognized by every- 
one in theory, but it will scarcely ever be observed 
in practice. In cases of necessity the needs of the 
army will alone decide. . . . 

"The German War Book," p. 134. 

Drastic methods of obtaining services 

When the law of peace is supplanted by the law 
of war, imposed upon occupied territory by the war 
power of the occupying army, it does not abandon 
its claim to continued authority. All paragraphs 
of the domestic code threatening punishment for 
treason remain in force; only extreme duress im- 
posed by the invader can protect the inhabitants, in 
case these render services to the invading army, 
against subsequent accountability to their own 
courts in case of a change in the fortunes of war 
or after the conclusion of peace. Here the one 
threat of punishment has to overbid the other; the 
invading army cannot dispense with the services of 
the inhabitants; it is obliged to demand them; it 
needs them at every step. These services can be 
assured only through fear of severer and more cer- 
tain punishment than that threatened by the domes- 
tic law. In such cases interest and fear must 
silence patriotism and the sense of right in the 
hostile population. This is certainly far from 

165 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

moral, but it is a military necessity and the inevit- 
able result of military invasion. 

Hartmann, in the "Deutsche Rundschau," vol. xiii, p. 
464. 

The summoning of the inhabitants to supply 
vehicles and perform works has also been stigma- 
tized as an unjustifiable compulsion upon the in- 
habitants to participate in "military operations." 
But it is clear that an officer can never allow such a 
far-reaching extension of this conception. . . . The 
argument of war must decide. 

Therefore the conduct of the German civil com- 
missioner, Count Renard— so strongly condemned 
by . . . jurists with French sympathies — who, in 
order to compel labor for the necessary repair of a 
bridge, threatened ... to punish the workers by 
shooting some of them, was in accordance with 
the actual laws of war. . . . 

*The German War Book," pp. 118-119. 

Civilian "hostages" 

A new application of "hostage-right" was prac- 
ticed by the German Staff in the War of 1870, 
when it compelled leading citizens from French 
towns and villages to accompany trains and loco- 
motives, in order to protect the railway communi- 
cations which were threatened by the people. Since 
the lives of peaceable inhabitants were, without any 
fault on their part, thereby exposed to grave danger, 
every writer outside Germany has stigmatized this 
measure as contrary to the law of nations and as 
unjustified toward the inhabitants of the country. 

166 



UTTERANCES OF MILITARY WRITERS 

As against this unfavorable criticism it must be 
pointed out that this measure, which was also 
recognized on the German side as harsh and cruel, 
was only resorted to after declarations and in- 
structions of the occupying authorities had proved 
ineffective, and that in the particular circumstance 
it was the only method which promised to be ef- 
fective against the doubtless unauthorized, indeed 
the criminal, behavior of a fanatical population. 
"The German War Book," pp. 1 19-120. 



Devastation of abandoned enemy territory 

The army in retreat has the means of collecting 
provisions everywhere. . . , All that the country 
yields will be taken for the benefit of the retreating 
army first, and will be mostly consumed. Nothing 
remains but wasted villages and towns, fields from 
which the crops have been gathered or which are 
trampled down, empty wells and muddy brooks. 
Clausewitz, "On War," vol. ii, p. 326. 

. . . The offensive of an invading army has 
failed; it is executing a rapid retreat in order to 
gain, in the rear, a new position, reenforcements and 
fresh military suppHes. For this army it has be- 
come almost a question of life and death to retard 
the pursuit of the enemy. ... In the territory 
abandoned the enemy must encounter obstacles 
that impede his movements; he must find it prac- 
tically impossible to secure the necessary supplies 
for his troops. In such a case the destruction, in- 
deed the devastation of the abandoned territory 

167 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

becomes a military duty of self-preservation. . . . 
To distinguish in such a case between public prop- 
erty and private property virould be disastrous. 

Hartmann, in the "Deutsche Rundschau," vol. xiii, p. 
460. 

IV. WAR FOR CONQUEST 



Justification of conquest 

Strong, healthy, and flourishing nations increase 
in numbers. From a given moment they require a 
continual expansion of their frontiers, they require 
new territory for the accommodation of their sur- 
plus population. Since almost every part of the 
globe is inhabited, new territory must, as a rule, 
be obtained at the cost of its possessors — that is 
to say, by conquest, which thus becomes a law of 
necessity. ... In such cases might gives the right 
to occupy or to conquer. Might is at once the 
supreme right, and the dispute as to what is right 
is decided by the arbitrament of war. 

Bernhardi, "Germany and the Next War," pp. 14-15. 

"World power or downfall" 

It was war that laid the foundations of Prus- 
sia's power, that amassed a heritage of glory and 
honor that can never again be disputed. War 
forged that Prussia, hard as steel, on which the 
New Germany could grow up as a mighty European 
State and a World Power of the future. . . . 

We fought the last great wars for our national 
168 



UTTERANCES OF MILITARY WRITERS 

union and our position among the Powers of 
Europe. . . . 

Our next war will be fought for the highest in- 
terests of our country and of mankind. This will 
invest it with importance in the world's history. 
"World power or downfall!" will be our rallying 
cry. . . . 

Bemhardi, ibid., pp. 2y, loi, 156. 



Need of strengthening Germany's European 
position 

. . . The German nation, from the standpoint of 
its importance to civilization, is fully entitled not 
only to demand a place in the sun, as Prince Biilow 
used modestly to express it, but to aspire to an 
adequate share in the sovereignty of the world far 
beyond the limits of its present sphere of influence. 
But we can reach this goal only by so amply se- 
curing our position in Europe that it can never 
again be questioned. Then only we need no longer 
fear that we shall be opposed by stronger opponents 
whenever we take part in international politics. 

Bemhardi, ibid., p. 78. 

We can increase our power by joining to Ger- 
many those middle European States which are at 
present independent, forming a Central European 
Union which . . . should have the purpose of de- 
fense and offense for promoting the interests of 
all its members. This object can in all probability 
be realized only after a victorious war. 

Bernhardi, "Unsere Zukunft" (1912) ; translation by 
169 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

J. Ellis Barker, entitled "Britain as Germany's Vassal'* 
(1914), pp. 207-208. 

"France must be crushed" 

. . . Our political position would be considerably 
consolidated if we could finally get rid of the stand- 
ing danger that France will attack us on a favor- 
able occasion, so soon as we find ourselves involved 
in complications elsewhere. In one way or an- 
other we must square our account with France if 
we wish for a free hand in our international policy. 
This is the first and foremost condition of a sound 
German policy, and since the hostility of France 
once for all cannot be removed by peaceful over- 
tures, the matter must be settled by force of arms. 
France must be so completely crushed that she can 
never again come across our path. 

Bernhardi, "Germany and the Next War," pp. 78, 104. 

A Colonial Empire 

In the most recent partition of the earth, that of 
Africa, victorious Germany came off badly. France, 
her defeated opponent, was able to found the sec- 
ond largest Colonial Empire in the world; Eng- 
land appropriated the most important portions; 
even small and neutral Belgium claimed a com- 
paratively large and valuable share; Germany was 
forced to be content with some modest strips of 
territory. . . . 

We shall soon, therefore, be faced by the ques- 
tion, whether we wish to surrender the coming 
generations to foreign countries, as formerly in 

170 



UTTERANCES OF MILITARY WRITERS 

the hour of our decline, or whether we wish to take 
steps to find them a home in our own German 
colonies, and so retain them for the Fatherland. 
There is no possible doubt how this question must 
be answered. . . . 

In the future . . . the importance of Germany 
will depend on two points: First, how many mil- 
lions of men in the world speak German? Second, 
how many of them are politically members of the 
German Empire? 

Bernhardi, ibid., pp. 62, 79, 80. 

Two Teutonic Empires 

Two new political organizations should be 
formed : The Empire of Middle Europe, in connec- 
tion with Germany, and the Empire of Southeastern 
Europe in connection with Austria-Hungary. 
Their external boundaries will be determined by 
the progress of military events. It may in general 
be expected that all districts now occupied by the 
Central Powers will be incorporated in these new 
political organizations. There is really no occa- 
sion for restoring countries won by the sword to 
States that were too weak to be able to protect 
them. 

"Warum war der Weltkrieg eine Notwendigkeit," by 
"An Officer of Curassiers" (1915), p. 14. 

Annexations in the West 

In order to free our western flank permanently 
from political and military pressure, it would have 
been quite sufficient if [in 1871] we had created 

171 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

conditions which would have made any later at- 
tack on the part of France, if not an impossibility, 
at least an act of suicide, and which would have 
made defense on the German side mere child's play. 
. . . Had the crest of the Vosges with the glacis 
at their feet and the neighboring chain of fortresses 
come into our hands, had we also drawn the fron- 
tier in such a way , . . that it reached the coast of 
the Channel somewhere south of Boonen (Bou- 
logne) — perhaps following the Somme — then the 
trump cards of strategic attack would have passed 
out of the hands of the French into our hands, we 
should have been something like lOO kilometers 
nearer Paris on the northeast, and we should have 
held in pincers, as it were, the whole of eastern and 
central France. Belgium would also have been 
protected from any danger of French invasion, and 
at the same time our industries would have been 
in possession of important coal and iron districts 
which in 1871 partially escaped the glance of the 
scientific experts who were then called into coun- 
cil. ... 

... In view of the hostility of England ... it 
is indispensable to take away from the English the 
Belgian glacis and to bring firmly into our control 
the entire coast with its corresponding hinter- 
land. . . . 

Gebsattel, in "Der Panther," no. 10 (Oct., 1915), pp. 
1183-1186. 

Annexations in the East 

The stiff neck of the Russians must be turned to 
the East, even if a couple of cervical vertebrae 

172 



UTTERANCES OF MILITARY WRITERS 

should be dislocated in the process. The barrier of 
alien subjects must be torn out of Russian hands 
and turned into a rampart of protection for Europe. 
. . . In carrying out this plan, history would be re- 
vised backward for something like 200 years, the 
Russian Colossus would be thrown back behind 
the pre-Petrine boundaries, and the Russian polit- 
ical system would receive that imprint and those 
tasks that really belong to it as a semi-Asiatic 
State. . . • 

Gebsattel, ibid., p. 11 87. 



Transfer of populations 

The seed that was sown after the capture of Lodz 
will ripen to harvest when peace is made. The 
power of Middle Europe will be strengthened, that 
of the Great Russians will be pushed back to the 
East, whence they came not so very long ago. . . . 

Lieut-Gen. Ludendorff, in the "Deutsche Lodzer Zei- 
tung," Feb. 9, 191 6. 

The objection will, of course, be raised that any 
such eastern annexations in connection with the 
necessary changes in our western boundary would 
bring into the German Empire millions of people 
of alien stock. . . . The character of the German 
Empire as a national state must of course be se- 
cured beyond all doubt and against every peril. 
. . . The way in which this object can be attained 
is fortunately indicated by a series of historic ex- 
amples. It is well known that the Romans, the 
greatest colonizers in the ancient world, resorted 

173 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

by preference in difficult cases to transfers of en- 
tire populations. A similar procedure was success- 
fully adopted by Charlemagne, and it has been ap- 
plied in the Balkans and, during the present war, 
by the Hungarians, who have transplanted tens of 
thousands of Serbs from Syrmia to more trust- 
worthy parts of the country. ... 

Gebsattel, loc. cit., pp. 1194-1195. 



Militarist propaganda for annexations, 19 17 

Copenhagen, June 9. — An energetic complaint is ad- 
dressed by the Socialist newspaper, "Vorwarts" of Ber- 
lin, to General von Ludendorff, Lieutenant-General von 
Stein, the Prussian War Minister, and others in high of- 
ficial places who are facilitating the circulation among 
the troops, in hospitals, in schools and elsewhere of a 
Pan-German brochure entitled "Germany's Position Un- 
der Good and Bad Peace." The brochure, which belongs 
among the most extreme outbursts of the annexationist 
literary fancies, is directed particularly against peace 
along the lines suggested by Philipp Scheidemann and 
other Socialists. It contains graphic representations of 
Germany bowed down under a weight of debt in conse- 
quence of a peace without indemnity, and striding for- 
ward with renewed vigor and a huge bag of gold in the 
event of a Pan-German peace. 

Among the most striking features of the brochure are 
maps showing Germany covering or dominating three- 
quarters of Europe. Not only are the usual sweeping 
demands for annexations made, but the articles rise to 
the heights of suggesting the incorporation of France as 
a federated State of Germany, or, alternatively, the an- 
nexation of a corridor connecting Germany with the 
Mediterranean. Other features in the program thus put 

174 



UTTERANCES OF MILITARY WRITERS 

forward are the expulsion of Great Britain from the 
Mediterranean, the entry of the Scandinavian countries 
into a German customs union, extension of the German 
sphere of influence in Persia and Afghanistan, hoisting 
the German flag over the Azores, Cape Verde and other 
islands, and the reduction of Poland, Courland, the 
Baltic provinces, Finland and the bulk of European Rus- 
sia to the status of protectorates or annexed territories 
of Germany. 

"Vorwarts" has obtained a publisher's circular disclos- 
ing that German Great Headquarters and the War Min- 
istry purchased a large number of these brochures, and 
that General von Ludendorff and General von Stein dis- 
tributed 15,000 free copies among the troops. 

Dispatch published in the "New York Times," June 10, 
1917. 



CHAPTER IX 



UTTERANCES OF COi^^MANDERS AND SOLDIERS 
IN xHE FIELD 



I. MILITARY PROCLAMATIONS 

Terrorism by indiscriminate punishment* 

In case any of the inhabitants fire upon soldiers 
of the German army, one-third of the male popu- 
lation will be shot. 

Notice posted up in Hasselt, Belgium, Aug. 17, 1914; 
"Juges par eux-memes,'* p. 84. 

The population of Andenne, after making a dis- 
play of peaceful intentions toward our troops, at- 
tacked them in the most treacherous manner. With 
my authorization, the General commanding these 
troops has reduced the town to ashes and has had 
no persons shot. 

I bring this fact to the knowledge of the people 
of Liege in order that they may know what fate 
to expect should they adopt a similar attitude. 

Order to the people of Liege, Belgium, issued Aug. 22, 
1914, by Gen. von Biilow; "Scraps of Paper: German 
Proclamations in Belgium and France" (London, Hodder 
and Stoughton, 1916), pp. d-j. All the proclamations in- 

*Sec Appendix, pp. 252-254, arts. 23 (g), 50. 
176 



UTTERANCES OF COMMANDERS 

eluded in this collection are reproduced in photographic 
facsimiles. 



The German Armies have made their entry into 
France. 

Although we will respect the liberty of non-com- 
batants, we have at the same time decided to re- 
press with the greatest energy and without mercy 
any act of hostility committed against German 
troops. 

The following will be immediately shot: 

All persons guilty of any act of hostility against 
a member of the German Army; 

All the inhabitants and proprietors of houses in 
which Frenchmen belonging to the Army, or per- 
sons firing on our troops, may be found, unless 
these facts, or the presence of suspected persons, 
have been announced to the local Command imme- 
diately after the entry of our troops; 

Any persons who try to help or who have helped 
the enemy's forces, or who try to harm or have 
harmed our Armies in any way whatever, espe- 
cially by cutting the telephone and telegraph wires ; 

Anyone who tears down these notices. 

The following will be held responsible for acts 
of hostility by the population: The Cure, the 
Mayor, the Mayor's Assessor, and the Schoolmas- 
ters. 

All buildings will be burnt in which or from 
which acts of hostility have been committed. In 
case of repetition the whole town will be destroyed 
and burnt. 

Proclamation by Gen. Knoerzer to the inhabitants of 
177 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

St. Die, Vosges, France, Aug. 2y, 1914; "Scraps of 
Paper," pp. 16-17. 

If . . . the population should dare to take part 
in any way whatever, openly or secretly, in hos- 
tilities against our troops, the most severe punish- 
ments will be inflicted on the guilty. . . . 

Any towns or villages, the inhabitants of which 
may take part in the fighting against our troops, 
fire at our baggage or at our supply columns, or 
lay an ambush for German soldiers, will be set on 
fire and the guilty persons immediately shot. 

The Civil Authorities alone are in a position to 
save the inhabitants from the terrors and scourges 
of war. 

It is they who will be responsible for the un- 
avoidable consequences of disregarding this Procla- 
mation. 

Proclamation issued by Gen. von Moltke, Chief of 
the General Staff, at Epernay, Marne, France, Sept. 4, 
1914; "Scraps of Paper," pp. 20-21. 



Constructive "espionage*' 

The persons mentioned below were condemned 
by the Tribunal of the Council of War and shot 

this same day at the Citadel, namely: 
Eugene Jacuet, Wholesale Wine Merchant, 

Ernest Deconinck, Sub-Lieutenant, 
Georges Maertens, Tradesman, 
Sylvere Verhulst, Workman, 
(i) For having concealed the English aviator 

who alighted at Wattignies on the nth of last 

178 



UTTERANCES OF COMMANDERS 

March, for having given him shelter and facihtated 
his passage to France, so that he was able to re- 
turn to the enemy's lines; 

(2) For having maintained and assisted mem- 
bers of the enemy army who, after discarding their 
uniforms, remained in Lille and its suburbs, and 
for having enabled them to escape into France. 

By proclamation of the Governor, of April 7, 
191 5, these two cases, being considered as espion- 
age, are brought to the knowledge of the public in 
order that they may serve as a warning. 

Notice posted up in Lille, Nord, France, Sept. 22, 1915; 
^'Scraps of Paper," pp. 26-27. 

The Tribunal of the Imperial German Council 
of War sitting in Brussels has pronounced the fol- 
lowing sentences: 

Condemned to death for conspiring together to 
commit treason : 

Edith Cavell, Teacher, of Brussels. 

Philippe Bancq, Architect, of Brussels. 

Jeanne de Belleville, of Montignies. 

Louise Thuiliez, Professor at Lille. 

Louis Severin, Chemist, of Brussels. 

Albert Libiez, Lawyer, of Mons. 

For the same offense the following have been 
condemned to fifteen years* hard labor: 

Hermann Capiau, Engineer, of Wasmes. 

Ada Bodart, of Brussels. 

Georges Derveau, Chemist, of Paturages. 

Mary de Croy, of Bellignies. 

At the same sitting, the War Council condemned 
seventeen others charged with treason against the 

179 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Imperial Armies to sentences of hard labor and 
imprisonment varying from two to eight years. 

The sentences passed on Bancq and Edith Cavell 
have already been fully executed. 

The Governor-General of Brussels brings these 
facts to the knowledge of the public that they may 
serve as a warning. 

Proclamation of General von Bissing, Brussels, Oct. 
12, 1915; "Scraps of Paper," pp. 30-31. The offenses 
here described as "treason" were of the same character 
as those characterized in the preceding Lille notice as 
"espionage." 

Collection of contributions and indemnities* 

The town of Wavre will be set on fire and de- 
stroyed if payment of a contribution of three mil- 
lion francs is not made within a reasonable time, 
no matter who may be injured; the innocent will 
suffer with the guilty. 

Notice from Gen. von Vieber to the Mayor of Wavre, 
Belgium, Aug. 2, 1914; "Juges par eux-memes," p. 83. 

On account of acts of hostility an indemnity of 
650,000 francs is imposed on the Commune of 
Luneville. The Mayor is ordered to pay over this 
sum on September 6th, 1914, at 9 o'clock in the 
morning, to the representative of the German mil- 
itary authorities. Fifty thousand francs of the pay- 
ment must be made in specie. All appeals will be 
considered null and void. No postponement will 
be granted. 

If the Commune does not punctually execute the 

*See Appendix, pp. 252-254, arts. 23 (g), 46, 47, 50, 53, 56. 
180 



UTTERANCES OF COMMANDERS 

order to pay this sum of 650,000 francs, all goods 
that can be distrained upon will be seized. 

In case of non-payment, house-to-house visits 
will be made and all the inhabitants will be 
searched. Any person who has deliberately con- 
cealed money or tried to withhold goods from 
seizure by the military authorities, or who attempts 
to leave the town, will be shot. 

The Mayor and the hostages taken by the mili- 
tary authorities will be made responsible for the 
exact execution of the above orders. The Mayor 
is ordered to publish these directions to the Com- 
mune immediately. 

Notice from Gen. von Fasbender, dated Henamenil, 
Meurthe et Moselle, France, Sept. 3, 1914; "Scraps of 
Paper," pp. lo-ii. 

Maintaining "tranquillity." Hostages* 

. . . Every street will be occupied by a German 
patrol who will take ten hostages for the street. 
If an assault takes place in a street, the ten hos- 
tages will be shot. 

Proclamation of Gen. von Biilow, Namur, Belgium, 
Aug. 25, 1914; "Juges par eux-memes," p. 83. 

Inhabitants of either sex are strictly forbidden to 
leave their houses, so far as this is not absolutely 
necessary for making short rounds, in order to buy 
provisions or water their cattle. They are abso- 
lutely forbidden to leave their houses at night un- 
der any circumstances whatever. 

*See Appendix, p. 254, art. 50. See also Gen. von Hart- 
mann and "German War Book," above, pp. 162-163, 166-167. 

181 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Whoever attempts to leave the place, by night or 
day, upon any pretext whatever, will be shot. 

Potatoes can be dug only with the Command- 
ant's consent and under military supervision. 

The German troops have orders to carry out 
these directions strictly, by sentinels and patrols, 
who are authorized to fire on anyone departing 
from these directions. 

Proclamation issued by the General in command at 
Luneville, Meurthe et Moselle, France, end of August, 
1914; "Scraps of Paper," pp. 12-13. 

The Mayor of the town of Luneville officially 
requests the inhabitants, under the sanction of the 
most severe penalties, to abstain from making any 
signals to aeroplanes or other details of the French 
Army. 

It would be very imprudent, even out of simple 
curiosity, to follow too attentively the maneuvers 
of the aircraft that fly over Luneville, or to try to 
communicate with the French outposts. 

The immediate steps to enforce this, which would 
be taken by Colonel Lidl, Commandant of the Com- 
munications Depot, would consist in the seizure of 
a considerable number of hostages from the work- 
ing class as well as from the middle class. 

Notice posted up at Luneville, end of August, 1914. 
Luneville was held by the Germans only until Sept. 11, 
1914. "Scraps of Paper," pp. 14-15. 

In order sufficiently to insure the safety of our 
troops and the tranquillity of the population of 
Rheims, the persons mentioned have been seized 

182 



UTTERANCES OF COMMANDERS 

as hostages by the Commander of the German 
Army. These hostages will be shot if there is the 
least disorder. 

Notice to the people of Rheims, by the General in com- 
mand, Sept. 12, 1914; "Scraps of Paper," pp. 24-25. 

On the evening of September 25th, railroad tracks 
and telegraph wires were destroyed between Lov- 
enjoul and Vertryck. On the morning of Septem- 
ber 30th, both the localities designated were held 
to account for this action and were forced to give 
up hostages. 

In future the inhabitants of places situated near 
railways and telegraph lines which have been de- 
stroyed will be punished without mercy, whether 
they are guilty of this destruction or not. For this 
purpose, hostages have been taken in all places in 
the vicinity of railways in danger of similar at- 
tacks ; and at the first attempt to destroy any rail- 
way, telegraph, or telephone line, they will be shot 
immediately. 

Proclamation by Field Marshal von der Goltz, Gov- 
ernor-General of Belgium, dated Brussels, Oct. 5, 1914; 
*'Juges par eux-memes," p. 84; "Scraps of Paper," pp. 
28-29. It is stated by the editor of the latter collection 
that the acts recited by the Governor were not done by 
Belgian civilians but by Belgian soldiers raiding through 
the German lines. 

By higher order of the supreme command of the 
army, the names of the persons who will answer 
with their lives for the safety of the railways in the 

district of Noyon are herewith published: 

183 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

M. Felix, Mayor. 

M. Jouve, Assistant of the Mayor. 

M. Cozette, Veterinary Surgeon. 

M. Briere, Banker 

M. Nancel, Tradesman. 

Order posted at Noyon, France, Oct. 8, 1915, by the 
Commandant of the town ; published in photographic fac- 
simile in the "New York Times," July 22, 1917. 

Instruction in deportment 

The population is reminded that, by higher order, 
all the inhabitants of the male sex, not under twelve 
years of age, are to salute politely, by uncovering 
their heads, all officers of the German army, and also 
all functionaries having the rank of officer. 

The Commandant of the town has ascertained 
that, in spite of these instructions, many men, and 
chiefly young men, do not salute or do so only in an 
unsuitable manner. 

Consequently, to avoid annoyance (ennui) to 
themselves, the people are requested to conform 
strictly to the orders of which they are reminded 
above. 

Notice posted at Noyon, May 12, 1916; "New York 
Times," July 22, 191 7. 

Deportation orders 

In reading the following orders, it should be remem- 
bered that the inhabitants of the portions of France oc- 
cupied by the German forces were being fed by Amer- 
ican relief agents at the cost of the French Govern- 
ment. 

184 



UTTERANCES OF COMMANDERS 

The attitude of England makes the provisioning 
of the population more and more difficult. 

To reduce the misery, the German authorities 
have recently asked for volunteers to go to work 
in the country. This offer has not had the success 
that was expected. 

In consequence of this, the inhabitants will be de- 
ported by order and removed into the country. Per- 
sons deported will be sent to the interior of the oc- 
cupied territory in France, far behind the front, 
where they will be employed in agricultural labor, 
and not in any military work whatever. By this 
measure they will be given the opportunity of pro- 
viding better for their subsistence. . . . 

I order, therefore, that no one may, until further 
order, change his place of residence. No one may 
absent himself from his legally declared residence 
from 9 p. m. to 6 a. m. (German time), unless he 
is in possession of a permit in due form. 

Inasmuch as this is an irrevocable measure, it is 
in the interest of the population itself to remain 
calm and obedient. 

Proclamation of the Military Commander, Lille, Nord, 
France, April, 1916; "Scraps of Paper," pp. 32-33. 

All the inhabitants of the house, with the ex- 
ception of children under fourteen and their moth- 
ers, and also of old people, must prepare them- 
selves for transportation in an hour~and-a-half's 
time. 

An officer will definitely decide which persons 
will be taken to the concentration camps. For this 
purpose all the inhabitants of the house must as- 

18s 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

semble in front of it. In case of bad weather, they 
may remain in the passage. The door of the house 
must remain open. All appeals will be useless. 
No inmate of the house, even those who are not to 
be transported, may leave the house before 8 a. m. 
(German time). 

Each person will have a right to 30 kilograms of 
luggage; if anyone's luggage exceeds that weight, 
it will all be rejected without further considera- 
tion. Packages must be separately made up for 
each person and must bear an address legibly writ- 
ten and firmly fixed on. This address must include 
the surname and the Christian name, and the num- 
ber of the identity card. 

It is absolutely necessary that people should pro- 
vide themselves in their own interest with eating 
and drinking utensils, as well as with a woolen 
blanket, strong shoes and linen. Everyone must 
carry his identity card on his person. Anyone 
attempting to evade transportation will be pun- 
ished without pity. 

Notice from the commanding officer of the Communi- 
cations Depot, Lille, April, 1916; "Scraps of Paper," pp. 
34-35- 

Order to kill prisoners 

Beginning with today, no more prisoners are 
to be taken. All prisoners are to be put to death. 
The wounded, whether armed or not, are to be put 
to death. Prisoners, even where they are organ- 
ized in large units, are to be put to death. No 
living man is to remain behind us. 

Order of the day, issued by Gen. Stenger, commander 
186 



UTTERANCES OF SOLDIERS 

of the 58th brigade, August 26, 1914; "J^ges par eux- 
memes," p. 85. The editor of this compilation adds: 
"This order was carried out. Examination of German 
prisoners belonging to this brigade showed that many- 
wounded Frenchmen had been clubbed to death with 
rifle-butts/' 

11. SOLDIERS' DIARIES AND LETTERS 



Slaughterings and burnings 

The inhabitants had fled into the village. It was 
a fearful sight. Blood sticking on all the build- 
ings ; and what faces one saw ! all looking hideous. 
All the dead, sixty in all, were buried at once. 
Many old women, fathers of families, and one wom- 
an about to be delivered — all horrible to behold. 
Three children had thrown their arms about one 
another and were dead. Altar thrown down and 
ceilings fallen in. All because of telephone con- 
nections with the enemy. And this morning, Sep- 
tember 2, all the inhabitants were driven out; I 
saw four boys carrying a cradle on two sticks, 
with a baby five or six months old. Terrible to 
watch all this. Shot on shot, thunder on thunder! 
Everything looted. . . . Mother with her two chil- 
dren ; one of them had a big gash on his head and 
an eye out. . . . 

Paul Spielman, First Infantry Brigade of the Prus- 
sian Guards, Reserve Battalion, First Company; Sept. i, 
1914, in a village near Blamont, Meurthe et Moselle, 
France. See Joseph Bedier, *'Les crimes allemands d'apres 
des temoignages allemands" (1915), pp. 7, 8. In this 
pamphlet and in a second collection edited by Bedier, 

187 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

"Comment TAllemagne essaie de justifier ses crimes/* the 
original German texts are given, with photographic fac- 
similes. 

September 3. Creil [Oise, France]. Iron bridge 
blown up. For this, streets set on fire, civilians 
shot. 

Unsigned notebook of a soldier of the 32d Reserve 
Infantry, Fourth Reserve Corps; Bedier, ibid., p. 9. 

Sept. 3, 1914. Frightful carnage (Blutbad) ; vil- 
lage burned down, the French thrown into the burn- 
ing houses, civilians, everything burned together. 

Hassemer, Eighth Corps, at Sommepy (Marne, 
France) ; Bedier, ibid., p. 10. 

Last night, at 10 o'clock, the First Battalion of 
the 178th entered the burned village north of 
Dinant [Belgium]. A sad and yet beautiful sight 
that made one shiver. Right at the entrance lay 
about fifty citizens, shot for having fired from; 
ambush upon our troops. In the course of the 
night many more were shot, so that we could count 
more than two hundred. Women and children, 
with lamps in their hands, were forced to witness 
the horrible spectacle. We then ate our rice among 
the corpses; we had eaten nothing since morning. 

Philipp (Kamenz, Saxony), 178th Regiment, First 
Battalion, First Company; Bedier, ibid., p. 12. 

Langeviller [August] 22. Village destroyed by 
the nth Pioneers. Three women hanged to trees. 
[A week later.] So we have destroyed eight houses 

188 



UTTERANCES OF SOLDIERS 

with their inmates. Out of one house alone, two 
men with their wives and an eighteen-year-old 
girl were bayoneted. The girl made me feel badly, 
she gave such an innocent look; but nothing could 
be done against the excited crowd, for at such times 
they are not men but beasts. 

Unsigned notebook of a soldier, pp. i, lo; Bedier, ibid., 
pp. IS, 17. 

Orchies [Nord, France.] All the civilians were 
arrested. A woman was shot because she did not 
stop at the cry "Halt!" but tried to run away. 
After this, burning of the whole village. 

Unsigned notebook of a soldier; Bedier, ibid., p. 18. 

Aug. 25 [in Belgium]. From the town 300 were 
shot. Those who survived the volley were forced 
to act as grave-diggers. The women were a sight; 
but there is no other way. In our march of pur- 
suit to Wilot things went better; the inhabitants 
who wished to leave were permitted to go where 
they pleased. But those who fired were shot. As 
we marched out of Owele there were rifle shots ; and 
then there was fire — ^women and everything. 

Reservist Schlauter, Third Battery, Fourth Field Ar- 
tillery of the Guard; Bedier, 4bid., p. 19. 

Parie* the first village burned ; then there was no 
stopping (dann ging^s los) ; one village after the 
other in flanies. We rode on our wheels . . . till 
we reached a ditch . . . where we ate cherries. 

Sebastian Reisshaupt, Third Bavarian Infantry, First 
Bavarian Corps; Bedier, ibid., p. 22. 

*Parux, Meurthe et Moselle, France. 

189 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

(Incendiary) bombs thrown into the houses. In 
the evening military chorus: ''Nun danket alle Gottl" 

Moritz Grosse, 177th Infantry, describing the sacking 
of Dinant, Belgium; Bedier, ihid., p. 26. 



Civilians as fire screens 

We have arrested three more civilians, and a 
good idea occurs to me. They are set on chairs 
and made to understand that they are to sit in the 
middle of the street. Wringing of hands and sup- 
plications on the one side, a few blows with rifle- 
butts on the other. Little by little one becomes 
frightfully hardened. Finally they are seated out- 
side, in the street. How many prayers they ejac- 
ulated, I do not know; but all the time their hands 
were folded convulsively. However sorry I am 
for them, the device helps us, and at once. The 
firing on our flank from the houses ceases instantly; 
we can now occupy the opposite houses and are 
thus masters of the main street. Now, whoever 
shows himself in the main street is shot down. 
Meanwhile, the artillery has also worked briskly, 
and when, towards seven in the evening, the bri- 
gade advances to storm the city and rescue us, I 
am able to report: "St. Die is clear of enemies." 

As I heard later, the regiment of reserves which 
forced its way into St.-Die further north had quite 
similar experiences. Their four civilians, whom 
they had likewise made to sit in the street, were, 
however, shot by the French. I myself saw them 
lying in the middle of the street, near the hospital. 

A. Eberlein, Bavarian first lieutenant in "Miinchener 
190 



UTTERANCES OF SOLDIERS 

Neueste Nachrichten," Oct. 7, 1914; Bedier, ibid., pp. 20, 
21. 

"A day of honor for our regiment" 

Under this title appeared, in the "J^uersches Tageblatt" 
(Silesia), Oct. 18, 1914, an article contributed by Under- 
Officer Klemt, First Company, 154th Infantry Regiment. 
It tells of a fight in which his regiment took part, Sept. 
24, 1914. After leaving Hannonville in the morning, 
supported in its advance by Austrian batteries, the regi- 
ment was suddenly met by artillery and infantry fire. 
It suffered heavy losses; but the enemy was invisible. 
At last, the writer says, it was seen that the bullets 
came from trees into which French soldiers had climbed. 

. . . They are shot down from the trees like squir- 
rels, and below they are warmly greeted with rifle-butts 
and side-arms; they need no surgeons; we are no 
longer fighting honorable enemies, but treacherous 
bandits. Through a clearing on the jump — there, 
see! they are hiding in the hedge; up and at them! 
No quarter is given. We shoot standing, with free 
hands; at the most a few fire kneeling; there is no 
thought of cover. We come to a hollow where dead 
and wounded red-breeches are lying about in heaps ; 
the wounded are hammered or stabbed, because 
we know that these scoundrels will shoot us from 
behind as soon as we pass them. There lies 
stretched out, face to the ground, a Frenchman, 
but he is only shamming dead. The kick of a 
sturdy musketeer tells him that we are there. Turn- 
ing over, he calls for quarter, but he is told that 
he needs a dose of French medicine and is pinned 

191 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

to the earth. A weird noise near me comes from 
blows that a soldier of the 154th is raining upon the 
bald head of a Frenchman with a clubbed rifle. 
Very wisely he has appropriated for this piece of 
work the Frenchman's gun, for fear of breaking 
his own. Very soft-hearted men put the French 
wounded out of their misery with bullets ; the others 
hew and stab whenever they can. Our opponents 
fought bravely; we had choice troops before us; 
they let us come within thirty, within ten yards — 
but then of course it was too late. Quantities of 
abandoned knapsacks and weapons give proof of 
their desire to flee ; but at the sight of the field-gray 
"monsters" terror lamed their feet and in the mid- 
dle of the narrow footway the German bullets called 
a halt. At the entrance of their leafy shelter huts 
they lie, whining for mercy; but whether they are 
slightly or mortally wounded, our brave musketeers 
save the Fatherland the costly care of numerous 
enemies. . . . 

The writer then reports that his Royal Highness Prince 
Oscar of Prussia, learning of the feats performed by 
the 154th and the regiment of grenadiers brigaded with 
it, declared them to be worthy of the name of "King's 
Brigade." The narrative of the fight ends with these 
words : 

With a thankful prayer on our lips, we fell asleep, 
awaiting the coming day. 

Having added a few verses entitled "Heimkehr vom 
Kampf," Under Officer Klemt obtains the following at- 
testation : "Above statements confirmed. De Niem, Lieu- 
tenant in command of the company." Bedier, ibid., pp. 31 
et seq. 

192 



UTTERANCES OF SOLDIERS 

"Something in what is said about German bar- 
barians" 

Courcy, north of Rheims, Oct. 22. We are lying 
here on the lawn, in the garden of the owner 
of the glass-factory, whose house, at present, har- 
bors our regimental staff in its cellar. The village 
and the workingmen's houses here are thoroughly 
looted and ruined. Atrocious ! After all, there is 
something in what is said about German bar- 
barians. 

Z , 78th Infantry Regiment (East Frisian), Tenth 

Corps; Bedier, "Comment rAllemagne essaie de justifier 
ses crimes," p. 25. 

More slaughterings and burnings 

(Spontin, Belgium, Aug. 23.) A company from 
the 107th and one from the 133d were ordered back 
to search the village, to arrest the inhabitants and 
to burn the houses. On the right-hand side of 
the entrance to the village lay two young girls, 
one dead, one seriously wounded. The priest also 
had been shot in front of the railroad station. Thir- 
ty men were shot according to martial law, and 
fifty others taken prisoners. 

Max Thomas, 107th (Eighth Saxon) Infantry Regi- 
ment, 19th Army Corps; Bedier, ibid., p. 35. 

(August 12; in Belgium.) One gets some idea 
of the fury of the soldiers, when one sees the de- 
stroyed villages. Not a single house left whole! 
Everything eatable requisitioned by individual sol- 
diers. Many heaps of human beings to be seen, 

193 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

executed by martial law! Little pigs were running 
around looking for their mothers. Dogs lay- 
chained, and had nothing to eat or drink, and over 
them the houses were burning. 

Hand in hand with the just wrath of our sol- 
diers goes also pure vandalism. In wholly de- 
serted villages they set the red cock on the roofs 
without rhyme or reason. I pity the inhabitants. 
Even if they use unfair weapons, after all they are 
only defending their country. . . . 

Paul Glode, Ninth Pioneer Battalion, Ninth Corps; 
Bedier, ibid., pp. 39-40. 



No quarter to Turcos nor to English 

No quarter is to be given to wounded Turcos. 
Vice-Feldwebel Bruchmann, 144th Infantry Regiment, 
i6th corps; Bedier, ibid., p. 44. 

The captain called us about him and said: "In 
the fort that is to be taken there are, in all proba- 
bility. Englishmen. I do not wish to see a single 
English prisoner in the hands of the company." 

A general shout of assent was the response. 

Under-Officer Gottsche, 85th Infantry Regiment, Ninth 
Army Corps; Bedier, ibid., p. 44. 

Orders to kill wounded enemies 

There they were lying in heaps, eight or ten 
wounded or dead, one on top of the other. Those 
who were able to walk were made prisoners and 
taken along; those who were seriously wounded, 
who had a shot in the head or in the lungs, etc. . . . 

194 



UTTERANCES OF SOLDIERS 

and were not able to get up, received more bullets 
to finish them. These were our orders. 

Reservist Fahlenstein, 34th Fusileers, Second Army 
Corps; Bedier, ibid., p. 45. 



Priests and women 

It is for me a mad joy when we can revenge our- 
selves on these rascally Belgian and French priests ! 

Reservist Richard Gerhold; cited by T. de Wyzewa in 
"Revue des deux Mondes," May 3, 1915. 

I am sending you a bracelet made out of a piece 
of a shell. This will be a fine souvenir of a Ger- 
man warrior, who has gone through the whole 
campaign and has killed heaps of Frenchmen. I 
have also bayoneted a good number of women. 
During the battle of Budonwiller, I did away with 
four women and seven young girls in five min- 
utes. The captain had told me to shoot these 
French sows, but I preferred to run my bayonet 
through them. 

Letter dated Peronne, March 16, 1915, from a Bavarian 
soldier, Johann Wenger, to his betrothed; cited by T. de 
Wyzewa, ibid. 

Devastation 

To give you a picture of our situation I will go 
back in my mind a few days to Trescault. It is 
8 p. m. Our company has just returned from trench 
digging. A beautiful scene is presented to our 
eyes. A little later there suddenly arise flames 
and Trescault is doomed to destruction. Every- 

195 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

where explosions are heard and the terrific heat 
reaches us. Then we, too, are seized with the mad- 
ness of destruction and set fire to everything. All 
Trescauit is in flames, and a marvelous spectacle, 
one which I shall never forget, meets the eye. 

On a little hill stands a wonderful castle, spared 
by us till the last moment because we are quartered 
there. But the castle must go, too, and quickly the 
flames envelop it. Where before were peaceful 
people and a flourishing village is now a heap of 
ruins. Far indeed did the destructive fury of the 
230th extend, and we can scarcely be looked upon 
as soldiers. When we are up at the front, it is as if 
we were the greatest criminals. Thus it is we do 
our work of destruction in France. Picture to your- 
self how we live now, not like men, but like beasts. 
Far and wide there are no trenches, only bare fields 
and stumps of trees growing where once man 
plowed his field and worked for wife and child. 
That is our retirement and our part in it. My mind 
cannot dispel the thought that I shall not return. 

Extract from a letter found on a captured German 
soldier, cited by Philip Gibbs in a dispatch published in 
the "New York Times," April 18, 1917. 



CHAPTER X 
UTTERANCES REGARDING AMERICA 

I. LATIN AMERICA 

German emigrants and German exports 

What the United States intends to prevent — and 
what perhaps it will hinder even by the use of 
force, up to a certain point — is the acquisition of 
territory in America by a European Power, were 
it only in the southern half of the hemisphere. For 
that very reason it will be much more difficult for 
the United States to prevent the establishment be- 
tween South America and Germany of peaceful 
economic relations, entirely divested of any political 
character. 

In order to demonstrate how we shall be able 
to undertake an enterprise worth while, despite our 
inability to found colonies by immigration, let us 
stress a fact unshakable in theory and in practice. 
Such territories, whether they belong to us polit- 
ically or are foreign soil, can be financially valu- 
able to us only if they are inhabited by a popula- 
tion able and willing to buy from us. In other 
words, everything depends upon whether the coun- 
try itself has the ability to produce, and to produce 
to an extent worth while. So much postulated, the 

197 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

subsequent progress of the development which we 
have in mind to create in South America is not 
difficult to outline. We must entirely sever polit- 
ical connection between our emigrants in Brazil 
and in the neighboring southern countries and the 
German Empire. From the instant they set foot 
upon the soil of the New World, it is absolutely 
necessary that they should feel, without reserva- 
tion, as Brazilians, Argentinians, etc. . . . 

. . . The object toward which our efforts must 
tend is to establish particularly close economic re- 
lations between the Fatherland and our emigrants 
in the New World — relations of such sort that the 
markets of the metropolis shall receive preference 
in the exports of its expatriated citizens, while they 
provide themselves with all necessities from the 
manufactured goods of the Fatherland. Natural- 
ly, relations of this nature can have solidarity and 
permanence and be really profitable to both parties 
only if sentiment is eliminated from such recipro- 
cal relations, and if on both sides the economic ad- 
vantage becomes essentially the preponderant point 
of view. We should not expect to buy goods from 
German Brazilians and from German Americans, 
any more than they should expect to buy from us, 
solely on the ground that a national affinity exists 
between us, and that this entails a semblance of 
moral obligation ; for this national relationship will 
furnish only a material and positive basis for the 
establishment of practical relations, such as exist 
in economic matters between England and her self- 
governing colonies. Because these emigrants are 
Germans who speak German, who will have Ger- 

198 



UTTERANCES REGARDING AMERICA 

man tastes and economic needs, because the basis 
of their character is German, trade with us will 
naturally possess an attraction for them, despite 
the attempts which the English and the Americans 
may make to win it. We shall have to commit on 
our side grave faults indeed, if this natural advan- 
tage does not directly transform itself into an eco- 
nomic superiority as compared with non-German 
efforts. Today, however (191 1), our activity is 
far from adequate for developing trade with the 
German colonies which exist in South Amer- 
ica. . . . 

What can and what should we do to spread germs 
of economic development so full of promise and to 
render them as useful to the Fatherland as to the 
Germans of Brazil? The first condition we have 
already indicated: foster German emigration to 
southern Brazil. Every German emigrant, whether 
born in the country or in the city, whether an arti- 
san or of any other class, who succeeds in obtain- 
ing across the seas ownership of a piece of land 
and in clearing the soil, represents after a certain 
number of years a capacity for absorbing goods 
that is vastly greater than he ever possessed in the 
home country, where he led a relatively simple life 
in a very restricted environment. This manifold 
increase of his opportunities for consumption and 
of his capacity for the absorption of the products 
of European manufacture can and should be utilized 
for the economic life of Germany. . . . 

Beyond doubt this demands collaboration on a 
wide and methodical scale between the Empire, the 
German States, public opinion and the emigration 

199 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

societies. We must not lose sight of the fact that 
despite all our sincerity and loyalty — which we are 
disposed to maintain and which, from the point of 
view of foreign politics, we must not fail to ob- 
serve — the distrust and dislike which appear, con- 
sciously or unconsciously, in particular among the 
North Americans and the English, will sow diffi- 
culties in the way of the realization of such a 
scheme. But difficulties must not cause German 
policy to recoil in fright, but to surge forward and 
surmount them. 

Paul Rohrbach, "Deutschland unter den Weltvolkern" 
(1911), pp. 394-396, 400-401. 



How to extend German influence in Brazil 

I suggest the following program of action for 
the immediate development of German interests in 
Brazil. So far as northern Brazil is concerned, the 
extension of German steamship traffic on the Ama- 
zon, with home ports at Para and Manaos, and the 
creation of branch German banks at Para. For 
central Brazil, the gradual building of steamships 
sufficiently large and swift to play a more consid- 
erable part in the passenger traffic between Eu- 
rope and Brazil, and a still more considerable par- 
ticipation of German capital in industrial enter- 
prises and in the construction of railroads. Above 
all, representation of Germany in a syndicate which 
is to take control of the administration of the cen- 
tral railroads. For southern Brazil, the support of 
the enterprises of the Hanseatic Colonial Society 

200 



UTTERANCES REGARDING AMERICA 

as well as of the Colonial Society of the Northwest 
District of Rio Grande. 

Richard Krauel, "Deutsche Interessen in Brasilien" 
(i907)> P- 30. 

German penetration of Rio Grande do Sul 

Rio Grande do Sul (the German section of south- 
ern Brazil) is today perhaps the best administered 
State in South America. It is no comic-opera 
State governed by brigands; it is a country where 
the development of economic life and civilization 
is, to be sure, only in its beginnings, but it will 
make unexpected progress so soon as European 
capital, instead of lingering fearfully on the sill, 
shall enter in at the door with the consciousness of 
a definite object to attain. Certainly the moment 
will come. That is why we must understand what 
we must do, not only to maintain our position in the 
Rio Grande but also to extend it. That is possible 
only by the importation of capital and labor. . . . 
Rio Grande do Sul must become a domain for Ger- 
man capital and German emigrants. We have the 
historical right as well as the power, and no one can 
suspect us of ulterior motives in this State so long 
as we do not allow ourselves to entertain political 
aspirations. 

Alfred Funke, "Die Besiedlung des ostlichen Sud- 
Amerika" (1903), p. 64. 

German culture in Latin America 

"What is to be done?" said Jupiter. "The world 
is already staked out," repeats the short-sighted 

201 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

German Philistine even today ; but he who has seen 
with his own eyes what German skill, German per- 
severance and the spirit of German enterprise have 
done in an almost abandoned corner of the world, 
feels his heart beat at the thought that this work 
of colonization may be lost to our nationality after 
a lapse of fifty years, that this island of German 
culture, like many another, may be submerged by 
the waves of a foreign nationality. . . . 

These considerations and reflections throw into 
perspective the lofty and splendid mission of Ger- 
man culture in Spanish and Portuguese America, 
the grandiose moral conquests which the Germans 
are about to make in these splendid countries, if 
they will only comprehend their mission. While 
the English and the Yankees, because of their cold 
and reserved character, are in general unsympa- 
thetic with the natives, while the French even in 
the 70's were the guides and undoubted models of 
these peoples in the path which led toward superior 
culture — a position which, by the way, they have 
in the main lost because of their lack of numerical 
strength and the general corruption into which they 
have repeatedly fallen — the Germans have been 
called, by reason of their natural qualities and their 
achievements, to become the preceptors and guides 
of these nations in intellectual, economic and polit- 
ical affairs. 

The sad /political and financial conditions which 
have brought such extremely rich countries to ruin 
and misery, through revolution, through incom- 
petent economic methods, through villainy and cor- 
ruption, proclaim imperiously the need of a remedy 

202 



UTTERANCES REGARDING AMERICA 

in the honesty and intelligence of the Germans, 
which must make itself felt first of all in the ad- 
ministration of the cities, then in that of the prov- 
inces, and lastly in the State at large. In the do- 
main of education and of science the Germans can 
play through their professors and scientists, as in 
Chili, an extraordinary and suggestive part, and 
contribute a very large share to the progress, quiet, 
assured and permanent, which these people will 
make. . , . 

If the Germans do not succeed in this mission, 
financial and political bankruptcy will sooner or 
later cause the countries of Spanish and Portu- 
guese America to be entirely exploited and dom- 
inated by the United States. Since the seizure 
of Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines, the 
fear of such an eventuality has penetrated all 
these countries and renders them less and less 
likely to object to a moral conquest by the Ger- 
mans. 

Johannes Unold, "Das Deutschtum in Chili," pp. 4, (i^jy 
et seq. 

Bright German spots in a dark picture 

The German settlements in southern Brazil and 
in Uruguay are the only bright spots in the dark 
picture of South American civilization. Five hun- 
dred thousand Germans live in these regions ; and 
it is to be hoped that, in the reorganization of South 
American relations, when the Indian-Latin half- 
breeds have completely ruined themselves, the im- 
mense basin of La Plata, with its adjoining west- 
ern, eastern and southern coasts, will fall into the 

203 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

hands of the German people. The Germans who 
have settled in the forests of southern Brazil all 
have, like the Boers of South Africa, from twelve 
to fifteen children on the average, so that the coun- 
try's safety is assured by this natural increase. It 
is really marvelous that the German nation should 
not long ago have decided to take possession of 
this territory. 

Otto Richard Tannenberg, "Grossdeutschland" (1911), 
pp. 228-229. 

German rule will be a blessing 

. . . For the people of the Republics that have 
divided the Spanish and Portuguese inheritance it 
will be a blessing to come under German author- 
ity. 

They will soon beccwne reconciled to German 
rule, and will be glad to share in the glory of the 
German name throughout the world. 

Tannenberg, ibid., p. 230. 



Initial control through treaties 

A foresighted policy alone can, through the un- 
scrapulous exertion of every means at its com- 
mand, conclude treaties with the foreign States 
which need the influx of our emigrants, and which 
will consequently end by yielding to the conditions 
our Government may judge necessary to impose 
upon them. The Republics of Argentine and Brazil 
and, indeed, probably every one of the tatterde- 
malion Republics of South America, would listen 

204 




\ '- . .-'0 / > /! J ^ 



DeufCe/> 7 J /* 



\ 



Map of Latin America, 1950 

Tannenberg, "Grossdeutschland" (1911), p. 255. It 
will be noted that the United States holds all Central 
America and the northern part of South America. Great 
Britain holds the valley of the Amazon and all the cen- 
tral districts from ocean to ocean. The Pan-Germanists 
are content to take those regions only that lie within the 
temperate climatic zone, in the southern third of South 
America. 

205 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

to reason and give way, willingly or unwill- 
ingly. 

Lange, "Reines Deutschtum," p. 208. 

Teutonization of Latin America 

Not only North America, but all America must 
be a bulwark of Teutonic culture, perhaps the 
mightiest bulwark of the Teutonic races. South 
America must also and may easily become a home 
of new, free Teutonic-Teutonoid races. Teutonic 
States ! Resettlement of the territory by people of 
Teutonic stock; removal of the non-Teutonic in- 
habitants to reservations, or, best, of all, to Africa. 
. . . Retention of Teutonoid-Latins in South Amer- 
ica, in so far as they are physically, mentally and 
morally sound, and are declared available by a 
commission of anthropologists, physicians, artists 
and teachers. 

Klaus Wagner, "Krieg," pp. 165-166. 



Germans take the Monroe Doctrine too seriously 

This and the two following extracts, as will be noted, 
are utterances subsequent to the outbreak of the World 
War. 

A portion of our public opinion is much too cow- 
ardly as regards America. The fact that the United 
States asserts the Monroe Doctrine and practically 
warns us Europeans out of America does not mean 
that we must submit to this doctrine. If for the 
most part we do so, this is due to European dis- 
unity, which makes it possible for the United States 
to fish in muddy water. ... As I have explained 

206 



UTTERANCES REGARDING AMERICA 

before, there can be no question for us of political 
conquests in America, but there certainly is a 
question of economic and cultural activity. 

Alfred Hettner, "Die Ziele unserer Weltpolitik," in 
series entitled "Der deutsche Krieg," no. 64 (1915), p. 
25. 



A disclaimer and a confession 

The war is not yet decided, but we know that it 
must end with our victory. . . . We also know, 
however, that the number of our enemies is great 
enough, and will remain great enough even after 
the war, to induce us to avoid everything that would 
unnecessarily arouse new enemies against us. And 
no necessity forces us to direct our purposes of 
conquest toward America, either toward the North 
or toward the South. . . . 

. . . We have not the least sympathy with polit- 
ical Utopias, the worst of which would be the no- 
tion of an expedition of conquest against South and 
North America. In order to remove from the start 
any question as to the credibility of our assur- 
ances, we admit that at times in our country na- 
tionalistic covetousness has extended itself to South 
America. ... 

Karl Mehrmann, "Grossdeutschland" (1915), p. 7. 



Hopes deferred, not abandoned 

It is difficult to judge the future. Undoubtedly^ 
the time for exclusive German colonization in Soutli. 

207 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

America has gone by, for most of the States now 
follow the North American plan of endeavoring to 
assimilate immigrants as quickly as possible with 
the generalized national type and to induce them to 
abandon their original language and character- 
istics. 

The writer goes on to urge that no obstacle be opposed 
to emigration from Germany to South America and that 
political as well as economic support be given to the 
Germans already there. He still believes that Latin 
America offers great opportunities to German enterprise. 

South America . . . much more than North 
America, will be for us in the twentieth century 
the land of economic future and unlimited possi- 
bilities. 

Dr. Siegfried Benignus, cited in cable dispatch from 
Berlin via London to the "New York Times," dated June 
8, 1917. 



n. THE UNITED STATES 



The outlook for American civilization 

It is hardly conceivable that in the former British 
colonies in America any civilization can be pro- 
duced that will stand morally [sicf] on the same 
plane with the old civilization of Europe. Up to 
the present time this hope of Washington has re- 
mained unfulfilled. 

Treitschke, "Politik," vol. i, p. 121. 
208 



UTTERANCES REGARDING AMERICA 

Irish rabbits 

The English, who are an aristocratic race, in- 
crease indeed with some rapidity, but much more 
slowly than the Irish. When in the middle of the 
nineteenth century two million people emigrated 
from Ireland, the situation was improved for a short 
time only ; the Irish increased again like rabbits and 
after a few years had reached again their former 
numerical strength. In North America, too, there 
is an immense increase of the Irish element. A less 
noble race, forcing its way into a finer civilization 
and constantly gaining more ground by mere 
physical power — this is an uncanny phenom- 
enon. 

Treitschke, ibid., vol. i, p. 229. 

Lost Germans 

The assertion that the emigration of Germans to 
America is an advantage for us is simple folly. 
What has Germany gained by the fact that thou- 
sands of its best sons who were unable to gain their 
living at home have turned their backs upon the 
Fatherland? For it they are lost forever. If per- 
haps an emigrant himself remains attached to his 
old home by some natural ties, his children as a 
rule cease to be Germans ; at all events, this is true 
of his grandchildren ; for the German learns all too 
easily to deny his Fatherland. . . . Almost one- 
third of the population of North America is of 
German origin [sic!]. What precious forces we 
have lost and are daily losing through this emi- 

209 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

gration, without receiving the slightest compen- 
sation. 

Treitschke, ibid,, vol. i, pp. 123-124. 

Uses of the German and Irish elements 

The further duty of supporting the Germans in 
foreign countries in their struggle for existence, and 
of thus keeping them loyal to their nationality, is 
one from which, in our direct interests, we cannot 
withdraw. The isolated groups of Germans abroad 
greatly benefit our trade, since by preference they 
obtain their goods from Germany; but they may 
also be useful to us politically, as we discover in. 
America. The American-Germans have formed a 
political alliance with the Irish, and thus united, 
constitute a power in the State, with which the 
Government must reckon. . . . 

For a time it seemed as if the Anglo-American 
negotiations about arbitration courts would defi- 
nitely end in an alliance against Germany. There 
has, at any rate, been a great and widespread agi- 
tation against us in the United States. The Amer- 
icans of German and Irish stock resolutely opposed 
it, and it is reasonable to assume that the anti- 
German movement in the United States was a pass- 
ing phase, with no real foundation in the nature of 
things. 

Bernhardi, "Germany and the Next War," pp. 75, 98. 

A plan to invade the United States (1901) 

Of late years we Germans have had cause for 
political irritation with the United States, due large- 

210 



UTTERANCES REGARDING AMERICA 

ly to commercial reasons. Up to now differences 
have been for the most part settled through our 
giving way. But a policy of surrender must have 
its limits. 

The question for us to consider is what plans 
must eventually be developed to put a stop to the 
overreachings by the United States which are detri- 
mental to our interests. It is by armed action that 
we must ultimately enforce our will upon that 
country. 

To achieve that purpose, our prime instrument in 
this case is our Navy. The German Fleet would 
have every prospect of victoriously encountering 
the naval forces of the United States, as those forces 
are divided into two sections separated by two 
oceans (Atlantic and Pacific), which are a great dis- 
tance apart. But the defeat of her fleet would not 
compel the United States to sue for immediate 
peace, because of the vastness of her territory and 
the immensity of her resources. Indeed, even fur- 
ther successes at sea would not force America to 
yield, partly because her commercial ports are so 
well fortified that we could not capture them with- 
out heavy losses, and partly because it would be 
impossible for our naval forces to blockade them 
all simultaneously. 

We have to reckon on the possibility that the 
American fleet would not at first risk a battle, but 
would conceal itself in fortified ports and wait there 
for some favorable opportunity to snatch a partial 
success. 

It is evident, therefore, that naval operations 
alone would not suflice to bring about the result 

211 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

which we desire. What is needed is combined 
action by sea and land. Owing to the vast area of 
the United States it would be out of the question 
for an army to invade the interior with a view to 
the conquest of the country. But there is good 
reason to expect that military operations on the 
Atlantic coast would prove to be a victorious en- 
terprise. Moreover, the cutting off of the main 
arteries through which exports from the entire 
country pass would create such a depressed state 
of affairs that the Government would be willing 
to offer us fair conditions of peace. 

If a German squadron were accompanied by a 
fleet of transports it may be presumed that, once a 
landing had begun, it would only take four weeks 
for a German army to begin their campaign on 
American soil. Within such a short period of time 
there is no doubt that the United States would be 
unable to place in the field forces as large as our 
invading army. 

At the present time (1901) the regular American 
Army numbers 65,000 men, of whom not more than 
30,000 would be actually available for home de- 
fense. Again, of these troops at least 10,000 would 
be required to defend the Indian territories and 
garrison the forts on the coast. So there would 
remain but 20,000 regular troops to take the field 
against the invaders. 

In addition to the regular forces, there are about 
100,000 militia, but the greater part of them de- 
clined to obey the call to arms in the last war. 
Further, this militia is badly armed. A proportion 
of them still carry muzzle-loaders, and as for drill- 

212 



UTTERANCES REGARDING AMERICA 

ing, that is even worse than their lack of proper 
equipment. 

Even if the possibility of a surprise invasion is 
exchided from consideration, owing to the length 
of time which the transport of an invading army 
would take, stress must be laid on various sources 
of American unpreparedness. One is the absence 
of regular preparation in peace time for mobiliza- 
tion; another is the inexperience of the American 
General Staff; a third is the weakness of the Reg- 
ular Army. These factors in the situation would 
necessarily accelerate German victory. 

The invading army would have to be of consid- 
erable size, as it would be necessary to provide for 
the lengthy occupation of a large area of American 
territory, to defend our lines of communication, and 
to engage in a successful offensive against all the 
forces which the Americans could bring up against 
us. Moreover, such operations might be of a pro- 
tracted nature. 

Such a campaign would be the more difficult to 
conduct owing to the long double journey which 
our fleet of transports would have to make in order 
to convey to America the requisite number of troops 
from so far away a base as Germany. 

Indeed it is questionable whether it would be 
wise to occupy for any prolonged period any large 
portion of American territory. The mere fact of 
one or two of their States being invaded would not 
induce the Americans to ask for peace. They would, 
however, find themselves obliged to do so owing 
to the enormous material loss which would be in- 
flicted upon the entire country by our capturing 

213 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

several of the large Atlantic seaport towns, at which 
converge the threads of the whole wealth of the 
nation. 

In these circumstances, our plan would be to 
effect a series of landings of troops in close co- 
operation with our Navy. We should, within a 
short space of time, be in a position to seize several 
wealthy cities. Such towns would suffer heavily 
through the cutting off of their sources of supply, 
by the destruction of all buildings used for the 
service of the State or for the purposes of defense 
or commerce. We should capture all war and 
transportation material found in them, and they 
would, in addition, be penalized by our levying upon 
them heavy war contributions. 

Against such operations on our part the Amer- 
icans would find defense a difficult task, notwith- 
standing that their splendid railway system would 
enable them rapidly to concentrate troops at spe- 
cific points on the coast. We, however, could count 
on the success of our invading army, because we 
should engage in landing feints to deceive the 
Americans and waste their time on defending such 
points till at last they managed to discover our 
actual points of disembarkation. Our troops, on 
landing, could either take the offensive against the 
enemy, or avoid being attacked by returning to the 
ships with a view to effecting a landing elsewhere 
on the coast. 

Stress should be laid on the fact that Germany 
is the only Great Power which single-handed would 
be able to attack the United States. It is true that 

214 



UTTERANCES REGARDING AMERICA 

England could successfully land an invading army, 
but she would not be in a position to defend Can- 
ada, which would accordingly bear the brunt of 
American revenge for failure in resisting the Brit- 
ish at sea. But apart from England no Great Power 
except Germany has at her disposal a sufficiently 
large number of transports to render possible the 
invasion of the United States. 

Baron Franz von Edelsheim, of the Second Uhlan 
Regiment of the Prussian Guard, "Oversea Operations : 
A Study" (Berlin, 1901). This pamphlet was published 
to promote military study in the Army and Navy Club 
of Berlin. The foregoing translation is taken from the 
London "Times" (February 5, 1917). 



A claim for indemnity (19 15) 

. . . Naturally the war hits our oversea export 
hardest. As long as the war lasts, this export is 
almost entirely suspended. Even after the war it 
will suffer serious depression. In the countries 
of South and Central America particularly we shall 
have to reckon . . . upon a decrease, partly be- 
cause of the diminished purchasing power of these 
countries and partly because of the more active 
Pan-American efforts of the United States ; and by 
the right of victory and on grounds of justice we 
have a claim for indemnity (Entschadigung) at the 
cost of England and of the United States. 

. . . The longer the war lasts, the more it in- 
creases our own war costs and diminishes the sol- 
vency of our enemies — the less hopeful becomes our 

215 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

prospect of obtaining full compensation for all the 
damages we have suffered. . . . Differential cus- 
toms rates, which we as victors can put into force 
on the new territorial frontiers won from our ene- 
mies, give us the possibility of obtaining at least 
partial compensation. 

Prof. Hermann Schumacher, "Meistbegiinstigungen 
und Zollunterscheidung" (1915), pp. 43, 45. 

Proposed coalition against the United States 

On the 1st of February we intend to begin unre- 
stricted submarine warfare. In spite of this, it is 
our intention to endeavor to keep the United States 
of America neutral. 

If this attempt is not successful, we propose an 
alliance with Mexico on the follov/ing basis : That 
we shall make war together and together make 
peace. We shall give general financial support, and 
it is understood that Mexico is to reconquer the 
lost territory in New Mexico, Texas and Arizona. 
The details are left to you for settlement. 

You are instructed to inform the President of 
Mexico of the above, in the greatest confidence, as 
soon as it is certain that there will be an outbreak of 
war with the United States, and to suggest that 
the President of Mexico, on his own initiative, 
should communicate with Japan suggesting ad- 
herence at once to this plan. At the same time he 
should offer to mediate between Germany and 
Japan. 

Please call to the attention of the President of 
Mexico that the employment of ruthless submarine 

216 



UTTERANCES REGARDING AMERICA 

warfare now promises to compel England to make 
peace in a few months. 

Zimmermann, German Imperial Secretary of State for 
Foreign Affairs, Dispatch to the German Minister in 
Mexico, January 19, 191 7. 



CHAPTER XI 

REACTIONS AND PROTESTS 

I. SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PROTESTS AND 
WARNINGS 

Danger in victory 

. . . Defeat in war is rather advantageous than 
disadvantageous to a people in our unfree condi- 
tion. Victories make a government that stands 
opposed to a people arrogant and exacting. Defeats 
compel them to approach the people and to win 
their sympathy. This is taught in the case of 
Prussia by the war of 1806-07, in the case of Aus- 
tria by the war of 1866, in the case of France by 
the war of 1870, and by the defeat of Russia in the 
war with Japan in 1904. 

... If Prussia had been defeated in 1866, Bis- 
marck's ministry and the rule of the aristocracy, 
which weighs like a nightmare upon Germany to 
this day, would have been swept away. 

August Bebel, "Memoirs" (1910), vol. i, p. 160; cited by 
W. E. Walling, in the New York "Tribune," May 17, 
1917. 

"This is not a defensive war" 

At the outbreak of the War, on August 4, 1914, the 
majority of the German Socialists in the Reichstag ac- 

218 



REACTIONS AND PROTESTS 

cepted the theory of the Government that the conflict 
had been forced upon Germany. Fourteen representa- 
tives of the Socialist party, however, rejected this view 
and voted against the war credits demanded by the Gov- 
ernment. On December 2, the number of dissenting 
Socialists had increased to seventeen; but on this occasion 
Karl Liebknecht alone voted against additional credits. 
He filed a formal written protest; the President of the 
Reichstag refused to permit it to be read; and it was not 
published in any German newspaper except "Vorwarts," 
and even there only in abbreviated form. A translation 
of the "Vorwarts" text is to be found in Walling, "The 
Socialists and the War" (Henry Holt and Co., 1915). 
That text contains the sentence : "This is not a defensive 
war." The opening and closing paragraphs of the protest, 
cited below, are given in "Juges par eux-memes," pp. 50- 
51, citing the Swiss "Berner Tagwacht." The closing 
paragraph is cited,/ the the original text, in Grumbach, 
"Das annexionistische Deutschland," p. 432. 

This war, which none of the peoples affected 
wanted, was not declared in the interests of the 
Germans or of any other people. It is an imperial- 
ist war, a war for the political domination of im- 
portant territories in which industrial and banking 
capital may be placed and made productive. From 
the viewpoint of the race of armaments, it is a pre- 
ventive war, provoked conjointly by the war parties 
of Germany and Austria in the obscurity of semi- 
absolutism and of secret diplomacy. . . . 

I agree to the credits in so far as they are asked 
for undertakings tending to relieve the existing suf- 
fering, even though I regard them as notoriously 
inadequate. I agree in like manner to everything 
that is done to lessen the hard lot of our brothers 

219 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

on the battlefield, to relieve the wounded and sick 
for whom I feel the most ardent sympathy. Noth- 
ing that can be asked for along these lines will 
seem too much to me. 

Protesting against the war, against those who 
are responsible for and those who promoted it, 
against the capitalistic policy that conjured it up 
and against the capitalistic ends which it is pursu- 
ing, against the plans of annexation, against the vio- 
lation of the neutrality of Belgium and of Luxem- 
burg, against military dictatorship, against the com- 
plete forgetfulness of social and political duties of 
which the Government and the ruling classes are 
still guilty — I oppose the grant of the credits asked 
for. 

A war for world dominion 

The longer the war lasts, the more completely 
its aims are unmasked. It appears naked, in all its 
ugliness, as a war for capitalistic conquest and 
world dominion. 

Klara Zetkin in "Die Gleichheit," Nov. 27, 1914. This 
issue was seized b}'^ the police. 

"An imperialistic war of conquest" 

It has become increasingly clear that the war 
is not one for the defense of our national integrity. 
More and more distinctly is revealed its charac- 
ter as an imperialist war of conquest. More and 
more unequivocally are policies of annexation pro- 
fessed. ... In the session of the Reichstag on 
May 28 (1915) the Imperial Chancellor undis- 

220 



REACTIONS AND PROTESTS 

guisedly proclaimed a war of conquest; and in the 
program of this war, as our party knew, was in- 
cluded the open annexation of Russian and French 
territories and the concealed annexation of Belgium 
under the label of compulsory economic associa- 
tion. . . . 

Open letter, signed by several hundred Social Demo- 
cratic leaders and sent June 9, 191 5, to the President of 
the Social Democratic Party of Germany and to the 
President of the Social Democratic faction in the Reichs- 
tag. This open letter was secretly distributed all over 
Germany, in spite of the stringent measures taken by the 
police to prevent its circulation. See Grumbach, pp. 
443-444. 

Obligations of honor as regards Belgium 

While . . . any forcible annexation of Belgian 
territory and any attack upon the independence of 
Belgium by any State whatever is to be resolutely 
resisted, in the case of Germany there are additional 
considerations, in that our country, without any 
occasion being afforded by any act of Belgium, 
and in violation, as the Imperial Chancellor him- 
self confessed, of the international guaranties of 
Belgian neutrality, forced her way into Belgium 
for her own purposes, overthrew the army that at- 
tempted resistance and took forcible possession of 
Belgium. It is therefore an obligation of honor for 
Germany to vacate Belgium without delay after 
the conclusion of peace — in accordance with the 
solemn assurance which the Secretary of State for 
Foreign Affairs, von Jagow, caused to be given, 
August 4, 1914, through the German Ambassador, 

221 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Prince Lichnowsky, to the English Secretary of 
State, Sir Edward Grey ^ — and to compensate the 
Belgian people in full measure for the damage in- 
flicted upon them. ... 

Speech delivered by Eduard Bernstein, at a meeting of 
Social Democratic leaders held Aug. 14-16, 1915. It 
was excluded from the German, press by the censorship. 
A translation was published in the Paris "Humanite," 
Sept. 28, 1915, and the above and other extracts are to be 
found, in the original text, Grumbach, pp. 448-449. 



Protest against the annexationist propaganda 

... In view of the efforts that are becoming 
more and more manifest to give to the war the char- 
acter of a war of conquest, we regard it as our duty 
to recall what we said in the session of August 4, 
1914, at the beginning of the war: "We desire 
a peace which makes friendship with neighboring 
nations possible." . . . The propagation of plans of 
conquest is already spurring the adversaries of 
Germany to continue the struggle and is contrib- 
uting in a disastrous way to prolong the war. . . . 
Every forcible assault upon the freedom and inde- 
pendence of a nation contains the germ of new war- 
like complications, and involves the prospect of a 
coalition of enemies perilous to the German Empire. 
. . . The assertion, that the German Empire needs 

* The telegram in question read : "Please dispel any mis- 
trust that may subsist on the part of the British Government 
with regard to our intentions, by repeating most positively 
formal assurance that, even in the case of armed conflict 
with Belgium, Germany will, under no pretense whatever, 
annex Belgian territory. . . ." See "British Blue Book," 
doc. no. 157. 

222 



REACTIONS AND PROTESTS 

for its economic existence acquisitions of territory 
in the East and in the West is disproved by the 
brilliant economic progress which we have wit- 
nessed within the previous boundaries of the Em- 
pire. With Belgium especially our economic rela- 
tions were, before the outbreak of the war, most 
intimate. No impediments of any kind were inter- 
posed to check the activity and the enterprising 
spirit of our nationals. . . . 

In advocating under all circumstances the free- 
dom and independence of all nations, in protesting 
against every policy of annexation, we are con- 
vinced that we are rendering the greatest service to 
our own people. 

Memorial presented to the Imperial Chancellor, dated 
June 25, 191 5, signed by Fr. Ebert and Philipp Scheide- 
mann, representing respectively the Social Democratic 
party of Germany and the Social Democratic members 
of the Reichstag. 

Annexationist agitation officially promoted 

On Dec. 21, 1915, when further war credits were 
demanded, the majority fraction of the Social Democrats 
repeated their protest against *'all plans of conquest," 
but voted for the credits. A minority declaration was 
made on behalf of twenty members of the Reichstag by 
Herr Geyer, who said (in part) : 

. . . While we resist with all our power plans of 
conquest framed by Governments and parties in 
other countries, we take an equally determined 
stand against the disastrous agitation of annexa- 
tionist politicians in our own country. . . . This 
perilous policy the Imperial Chancellor has not dis- 

223 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

avowed ... he has rather promoted it. . . . We 

cannot reconcile our desire for peace and our an- 
tagonism to plans of conquest with a vote in favor 
of the war credits. We therefore reject the credits. 



The Chancellor's military aims 

The Imperial Chancellor yesterday raised at least 
a corner of the curtain that conceals his military 
aims. Never before has he expressed himself so 
clearly. Germany, he says, will not voluntarily 
deliver the Poles, the Baits, the Letts, the Lithuan- 
ians to reactionary Russia. ... If, however, it is a 
question of making the people of Poland independ- 
ent, they must themselves decide what political 
form they will adopt. A further question arises : 
What is to be done with the Baits, the Lithuanians, 
the Letts? Are they to be incorporated in any 
State, and in which ? Up to the outbreak of this war, 
the people of this region had no desire to be con- 
nected with the German Empire. . . . 

Against the remarks made by the Imperial Chan- 
cellor regarding Belgium we must interpose the sharp- 
est protest. Assuredly Belgium is not to become an 
Anglo-French vassal State, but neither is she to be- 
come a German vassal State. . . . From the utter- 
ances of the Imperial Chancellor, Deputy Spahn has 
drawn the conclusion that Belgium must come under 
our control in political, economical and military mat- 
ters. [Cries of ''Quite right 1" on the Right and in 
the Center.] For a free nation that has been con- 
stituted as an independent State, this form of an- 

224 



REACTIONS AND PROTESTS 

nexation would be much worse than the cession of 
a narrow strip of territory. Its sovereignty would 
be destroyed. . . . 

The Imperial Chancellor denies that desire for 
territory plays any role among us. Is he not aware 
that in the literature of the war the demand is con- 
stantly made that we should gain new territories 
for our surplus population? ["Quite right 1" on the 
Right, in the Center and among the National Lib- 
erals.] ... I comprehend your view; but how, hold- 
ing such views, you can work yourself into indigna- 
tion about the intention of other nations to annihilate 
us, that I certainly do not understand. 

Hugo Haase, Leader of the Social Democratic Labor 
fraction (numbering nineteen members in the Reichstag), 
Speech in the Reichstag, April 6, 1916. 



"A gang of robbers" 

We adhere to the . . . point of view contained 
in the demand of August 4, 1914 — the territorial 
integrity of Germany and her economic independ- 
ence and development — but today we still refuse to 
oppress foreign peoples. , . . 

The supporters of conquest shout for increase of 
power, increase of territory, money and raw mate- 
rial. That can be wanted only by a nationally or- 
ganized gang of robbers. 

Philipp Scheidemann, Leader of the Social Democratic 
majority, Speech in the Reichstag, May 15, 1917. As 
late as 1916, Scheidemann's attitude toward annexations 
was somewhat equivocal; see above, p. 149. 

225 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

Why Socialist journals rarely protest 

Attacks upon those wide circles in the nation 
that deem the connection of Belgium with the 
German Empire to be necessary, in the interest of 
the Fatherland, have already been strictly prohib- 
ited in a notice to you referring to your article on 
"The Future of Belgium" in your issue of March 
26, 191 5. Since your attitude gives me no assur- 
ance for the future against offenses of the kind cen- 
sured, I impose upon your journal the requirement 
of preliminary approval. 

Gen. Baron von Gayl, notification sent April 24, 191 5, 
to the editors and publishers of the "Dortmunder Arbei- 
terzeitung" (Social Democratic). 

In your issue of April 23, 191 5, under the head- 
ing, "More About the Aims of the War," you again 
discuss this subject in defiance of my definite pro- 
hibition. In the article cited, you describe certain 
remarks of Deputy Paasche, concerning the possible 
acquisition of European and colonial territories, as 
"phantasies" and on the other hand you reproduce 
with approval an essay of Professor Brentano^ 
which in a discussion of the aims of peace contains 
serious breaches of the party truce (Burgfriede) . 
. . . Since your attitude gives me no assurance for 
the future against offenses of the kind censured, I 
impose upon your journal the requirement of pre- 
liminary approval. 

Gen. Baron von Gayl, notification sent April 25, 1915, 
to the "Niederrheinische Arbeiterzeitung" (Social Demo- 
cratic). 

226 



REACTIONS AND PROTESTS 



II. PROTESTS OF ASSOCIATIONS 

Petition of the "New Fatherland Alliance" 

The "Bund Neues Vaterland" was founded in Novem- 
ber, 1914, by Baron von Tepper-Laski, a man sixty years 
old, one of the best known of Prussian sportsmen. His 
democratic views brought him into opposition against the 
Government from the outbreak of the war. The Bund in- 
cluded men from many circles : politicians, savants, manu- 
facturers, financiers and former diplomatists. At the 
outset it was not discouraged by the Government; it was 
deemed useful as a make-weight against the extreme an- 
nexationists. In the latter part of the year 1915, chiefly 
in consequence of pressure exerted by the military au- 
thorities, who regarded the Bund as a dangerous organiza- 
tion, the attitude of the Government changed, and all 
meetings of the Bund were placed under police supervision. 
Early in April, 1916, the general secretary of the Bund, 
Frl. Jannasch, was arrested, without any public state- 
ment of the charges against her. Some weeks later she 
was set at liberty. Grumbach, p. 409. 

Six great economic associations . . . have sent to 
the Chancellor a Memorial, dated May 20.* . . . 
We feel it our duty to express most emphatically 
our opposition to the demands set forth in this 
Memorial; and to petition the Imperial Chancellor 
to take the measures needed to check this agitation 
and, above all things, to make it clear, beyond a 
doubt, that the Imperial Government is not in ac- 
cord with the aims of the war set forth in the said 
Memorial. 

*See above, pp. 123-125. 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

The insane idea of securing peace by annihilating 
our enemies. — We need not insist that a ruthless 
victor would conjure up against himself the hos- 
tility of the whole world and would necessarily suc- 
cumb to the alliance of all the Powers. We wish 
only to inquire whether in our case it is possible so 
to weaken our enemies that they shall for a long 
period be powerless. We have against us, not one 
single Power, but four European Great Powers. The 
notion of so weakening our chief antagonists, Eng- 
land and Russia, as to reduce them to long con- 
tinued impotence, or of "annihilating" them, as the 
"Wehrverein" demanded, Christmas, 1914, is too 
naive for serious discussion. . . . 

To secure peace "permanently" or within the 
reach of human foresight by this method of "bleed- 
ing white" is quite impossible. To determine to 
fight for such an unattainable military purpose is 
stark madness. 

The diffusion of this mad idea is dangerous, since 
it increases the difficulty of our attaining such a 
peace as we need, as we may perhaps secure in a 
not too distant future, and as would really promise 
to be permanent. . . . 

Annexations demanded. — The Memorial demands 
that extensive regions in the West and in the East 
shall be incorporated in the Empire. 

In the West, Belgium is to be annexed, in effect 
if not formally — a country covering almost 30,000 
square kilometers, with a population of about 7,- 
500,000. In France (if the most modest interpre- 
tation is placed upon the statements made in the 
Memorial) . . . fully 20,000 square kilometers are 

228 



REACTIONS AND PROTESTS 

to be annexed with more than 3,500,000 inhabitants. 

In the East the demands contained in the Memo- 
rial are even more indefinite. We shall again at- 
tempt to interpret them as modestly as possible. . . . 
They would amount altogether to annexations of 
80,000 square kilometers with more than 5,000,000 
inhabitants. In the West and the East together, 
accordingly, about 130,000 square kilometers* are 
to be annexed, with more than 16,000,000 inhab- 
itants. . . . 

How great a task would be imposed upon Ger- 
many, even in times of peace, if . . . more than 16,- 
000,000 inhabitants, almost all of them animated 
by the bitterest hostility against everything Ger- 
man, were to be loaded upon the Empire, with its 
population of 67,000,000, what perils would be in- 
volved in times of peace, to say nothing of times 
of war — these questions have not wholly escaped 
the attention of the authors of the Memorial. This 
explains the fact that they advance a further de- 
mand. ... In the annexed countries government 
and administration are to be so conducted that "the 
inhabitants shall obtain no influence upon the polit- 
ical destinies of the German Empire." 

In other words, the population is to be ruled by 
the German Empire without being able to exercise 
any political rights in the German Empire. . . . 
This system is to be imposed, not only in the East, 
upon Russian subjects, but also in the West, on 
Belgian and French citizens, accustomed to the full- 
est liberty and to democratic constitutions. 

^Nearly 51,000 square miles — somewhat more than the area 
of New York State. 

229 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

... To the monstrous proposal of converting 
16,000,000 foreign and hostile human beings into 
compulsory members of the German Empire there 
is thus added a second monstrosity. ... No sane 
person will believe that any such forcible subjuga- 
tion could be permanent. It would rather be 
avenged fearfully upon the German nation. 

In carrying out the annexations, the Memorial 
demands not only measures in the field of public 
law but also far-reaching attacks upon the right of 
private property. All possessions that carry with 
them strong economic and social influence — in the 
West particularly the possession of all great indus- 
trial plants, in the East especially the large and 
medium agricultural holdings — are to pass into 
German hands. 

This would be a revolution in the economic situ- 
ation of individuals in the annexed countries such 
as no modern annexation has carried with it. It 
recalls — and the comparison is not on the whole 
favorable to the modern plan — the times of the 
great migrations of the nations. In those times 
the Roman citizen holding land in a Roman prov- 
ince conquered by the Teutons was obliged to cede, 
in one form or another, a part of his possessions to 
a Teuton conqueror. . . . 

Thus one monstrosity begets another. . . . 

Among Germany's enemies there is a considera- 
ble conflict of interests, which must come into play 
again after the conclusion of peace. . . . After the 
conclusion of peace it should be one of the most 
important tasks of German policy to see that a co- 
alition such as now exists should not again be 

230 



REACTIONS AND PROTESTS 

formed against us. . . . The annexation plans of 
the Memorial tend to bring about the direct oppo- 
site of what prudence demands. Instead of divid- 
ing our enemies, such annexations would weld them 
together, . . . 

What a pitiable palterer was Bismarck, who in 
1866 let Austria escape without cessions of territory, 
and who in 1871 concluded a premature peace, with- 
out fully exploiting the favorable military situation 
and taking from the French Verdun and Bel- 
fort! . . . 

Belgium. — Our experiences tell us, without quali- 
fication, that the violation of Belgian neutrality 
has almost everywhere made a disastrous and alto- 
gether lamentable impression on the feelings of neu- 
trals; that this impression, despite the lapse of ten 
months, is in nowise effaced; that on the contrary 
it has in many cases been regrettably intensi- 
fied. . . . 

Members of our Alliance know, from personal 
impressions, how strong has been the effect of the 
violation of Belgian neutrality upon the great ma- 
jority of Americans, even upon those who were 
friendly to Germany. ... It has been particularly 
difficult to make our appeal to a **state of necessity" 
intelligible to Americans. . . . 

The annexation of Belgium would be viewed in 
all countries as the forcible subjugation of a mal- 
treated free nation, completely free from responsi- 
bility for her sad fate. With the strong prejudice 
already existing against us in many nations, it would 
have a fearful and long-enduring effect. . . . 

Should we insist on satisfying demands for an- 
231 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

nexation which would make any conclusion of peace 
impossible within any calculable period, we should 
do our utmost to drive the neutrals into the camp 
of our enemies; we should turn against us first 
their sympathies and then perhaps their armies. 
And in the meantime there would be an uninter- 
rupted senseless and useless sacrifice of billions of 
national property and of hundreds of thousands of 
precious human lives. . . . 

This petition was sent to the Imperial Chancellor at 
the beginning of June, 191 5. Copies were sent to all 
members of the Reichstag. All copies offered for sale 
were promptly seized by the police. In September, 191 5, 
a complete translation was published in the Paris "Hu- 
manite." The full text of the petition is to be found, in 
the original German, in Grumbach, and the foregoing 
extracts will be found at pp. 375-384, 400, 402, 403. 

Protest of the German Peace Society 

. . . The renunciation [of annexations] is de- 
manded in the peculiar interest of Germany her- 
self; because the compulsory introduction of alien 
and hostile masses into our political system and 
our national life could work only to our harm. It 
is demanded by the urgent need of all nations, 
including the German nation, to gain the greatest 
possible security for an enduring peace; because 
annexations which subjugate a foreign nationality 
must lead with absolute necessity to a war of retri- 
bution. It is demanded by the necessity of build- 
ing up anew after the war a peaceful — cultural, le- 
gal and political — community of the civilized na- 
tions ; because a Germany burdened with conquests 

232 



REACTIONS AND PROTESTS 

would be excluded from such a community. It is 
demanded by the general principles of respect for 
the freedom and independence of all nations; be- 
cause these principles are entitled to respect on 
their own account and their disregard would neces- 
sarily bring vengeance upon us. 

Memorial of the German Peace Society, submitted to 
the German Reichstag, Dec. i, 191 5. It was signed in 
behalt of the Society by Prof. Quidde, member of the 
Bavarian Diet, and by O. Umfried, a clergyman. The 
publication of this memorial was prohibited. In the 
typewritten copies sent to members of the Society they 
were warned that the memorial must not be given to the 
press. Grumbach, pp. 411-413. 

III. INDIVIDUAL PROTESTS AND REACTIONS 

Imperialism akin to megalomania 

"The idea of World rule, Imperialism in the proper 
sense of the word, did not spring up on German soil; it 
was imported from abroad. Seriously to support it is 
to commit treason against the innermost essence of the 
German spirit." — Franz von Liszt. 

When this war broke out, we were prepared for 
dreadful things — unprecedented squandering of hu- 
man life, fearful misery, famine, disease. What 
we were not prepared for is this shocking reversion 
toward moral savagery. . . . 

I am not sufficiently optimistic to believe that this 
war will be followed by a long peace. The hatred 
necessarily engendered by this war and by the still 
hardly conceivable way in which it is being waged 
— this hatred alone promises a series of wars. This 

233 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

assumption is unfortunately supported by the still 
unbroken power of Imperialism. . . . 

What is "the German Idea"? Rohrbach"^ nowhere 
puts it into plain words. Was he restrained from 
defining it by something like unconscious shyness? 
What it means to him is, however, quite clear. It 
is a completely materialistic notion. Rohrbach 
wishes the German to rule, to stretch himself, to 
enrich himself, to permit nothing to be done in the 
world without his cooperation. "The German 
Idea" ... is only a euphemism for Imperialism. 
That is his declared and exclusive aim. That ex- 
plains his boundless admiration for England, in 
spite of all his anatagonism to England. . . . 

It is not true that all Englishmen are scoundrels. 
It is not true that only shopkeeping souls dwell in 
England. ... 

Are we then to feel no hate? 

Oh, certainly — ^we are to hate the English Idea 
and to pluck it out of our own country, root and 
branch. 

I admit that I am so utter a simpleton as to be 
unable to perceive the nobility concealed under 
hideous facts. ... I see [in Imperialism] only a 
pride of power, akin to megalomania ; with the best 
wdll in the world, I can see in it no moral idea. 
When it is appreciated . . . that the true interests 
of nations are not antagonistic, then at last it will 
be understood that even in politics there is such a 
thing as immorality, and that it is immoral to base 
our own prosperity on the misery of alien peo- 
ples. ... 

*In work cited above, p. no. 
234 



REACTIONS AND PROTESTS 

A culture that deserves the name does not con- 
sist in clever technical inventions, nor even in flour- 
ishing arts and sciences, but in the fostering of 
justice. 

Ernst Miiller-Holm, "Der englische Gedanke in 
Deutschland: Zur Abwehr des Imperialismus" (Munich, 
1915), pp. 5, 7, 8, 72-73, 82, 99-100. 



Pan-Germanist responsibility 

Did this war really arise without any fault on our 
part? Is Germany really such a lamb as our press 
asserts? . . . The hatred which almost all neutrals 
exhibit toward us must give us pause. Our uni- 
versal unpopularity is fully to be explained neither 
by certain unamiable Prussian-German traits . . . 
nor by the French and English underground propa- 
ganda. . . . 

What handle have we given [to the French and 
English press] ? It is simply our world-trade pol- 
icy. . . . And what has caused us to be completely 
detested by civilized nations is this insufferable at- 
titude of the Pan-Germanists. "Pan-Germanists" 
is their name in politics; in science they are called 
"Race Theorists." Do you wish to know what 
Race Theory is? It is a so-called science, of which 
the purpose is to prove that the Germans stand first 
among all nations of the world, that all the achieve- 
ments of civilization since the beginning of history 
have proceeded from them, and that the rule of the 
world fitly and rightly belongs to them. . . . What 
an impression of Germany's politicians, of the aims 
of German patriots, must a foreigner derive from 

235 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

these products of national megalomania? One 
writer expects a "Pan-Germanic Empire," embrac- 
ing "the present Empire; the other Germanic ter- 
ritories in Europe, Scandinavia and the Nether- 
lands, as equal partners in the Empire ; further, the 
territories of the Latins in the West and in the 
Southwest and of Austria's western and southern 
Slavs, as dependent colonial territories, besides all 
America south of the Amazon." Another writer 
calmly launches the assertion that the cultural value 
of a nation depends on its percentage of "the blond 
race"; and on this basis he undertakes to prove, in 
each individual case, that all the great men of the 
non-German nations were of German blood. A 
third declares that the command to love your neigh- 
bor, given us by the "Aryan" Jesus, of course ex- 
tends only to Aryans. . . . 

The views of these dangerous fanatics quite dom- 
inate public opinion; they contrive to smuggle their 
cuckoo-eggs into most journals and newspapers. 
The harm done by such books as Houston Stewart 
Chamberlain's "Foundations of the Nineteenth Cen- 
tury," and by the essays in the "Political- Anthropo- 
logical Review" is inconceivable. Generations must 
pass away before the bad impression made upon for- 
eign nations disappears. 

Muller-Holm, ibid., pp. 131-134. 

Germany's future 

Germany's future does not lie on the water, but 
within her own nobly endowed land. All geo- 
graphical considerations, the nature of the country, 

236 



REACTIONS AND PROTESTS 

the character of its coasts, its position in the mid- 
dle of Europe, indicate that it is destined to be a 
continental State. That, of course, does not mean 
that navigation is to be abandoned . . . but it can- 
not be our chief object. That is forbidden by mil- 
itary considerations, by our extended frontiers on 
land. At sea, we must confine ourselves substan- 
tially to defense. 

It is time to return to Bismarck's policies. After 
187 1 he lost no opportunity to declare that Ger- 
many was "saturated." I am no unconditional 
panegyrist of Bismarck, not even of his foreign 
policy. I regret above all that after 1871 he did 
not attempt, perhaps did not even desire, to es- 
tablish tolerable relations with France. But his 
policy had one great merit : it was never adven- 
turous. 

Miiller-Holm, ibid., p. 140. 

Germany must not follow the Napoleonic road 

Full assurance that a conquered enemy will not 
seize a favorable opportunity to renew the contest 
can be obtained only by his permanent subjuga- 
tion. This was the Roman practice, and in this 
way they gradually built up their World Empire. 
Luckily for the human race, such a World Empire 
is today impossible. An intermediate course is to 
secure extensive cessions of territory, to maintain 
possession of dominant strongholds, and to exploit 
the enemy financially. This course was followed 
by Napoleon, particularly in 1807 as regarded Prus- 
sia. . . . This method has not proved satisfactory. 

237 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

. . . God forbid that the German Empire, after 
the victory we expect, should follow the road of 
Napoleonic policy! The result would be a series 
of wars, of which the end could not be foreseen. 
Whatever fetters we might impose upon the nations, 
they could not be reduced to complete immobility; 
and on one point Europe is of one mind — never to 
accept the domination of a single State. . . . Our 
aim must be : The maintenance of the existing po- 
litical equilibrium on land and the conquest of an 
equilibrium on the sea. 

Prof. Hans Delbriick, in "Preussische Jahrbiicher," vol. 
158 (October, 1914). This article was violently attacked 
in the Conservative press; see Grumbach, p. 424. 

Annexations would ruin the nation 

The demand that the outcome of the war for 
Germany — in compensation for its sacrifices and in 
order to secure future peace — should consist in ex- 
tensive additions of territory, threatens increasing- 
ly to dominate public opinion. . . . The worst ene- 
my of Germany could devise no more devilish means 
of ruining the Empire and the nation. ... 

Most widely diffused in Germany, beyond a 
doubt, is the idea of annexing Belgium. And it is 
just this idea that is the most dangerous of all. . . . 
The demand for a secure and enduring peace and 
the demand for an annexation of Belgium are ir- 
reconcilable antitheses. 

Prof. Quidde, "Reale Garantien fiir einen dauernden 
Frieden" (1915), pp. 4, 5, 11, 18. Printed as manu- 
script. Copies mailed were confiscated. See Grumbach, 
p. 420. 

238 



REACTIONS AND PROTESTS 

The indictment against Germany 

No book that has appeared during the War has at- 
tracted more attention than the volume entitled "J'^ccuse ; 
von einem Deutschen" (Lausanne, 1915). The German 
Government forbade its circulation in Germany and en- 
deavored to secure its suppression in Switzerland. From 
its tone and method of treatment it is clearly the work 
of a German lawyer. The following extracts are taken 
from the translation by Alexander Gray (New York, 
George H. Doran Co., 1915). 

1. Germany gave Austria a free hand against 
Serbia, although she v^as well aware that a Euro- 
pean conflict must arise out of that between Serbia 
and Austria. 

2. She allowed Austria to address to Serbia an 
ultimatum with exorbitant demands and, notwith- 
standing an almost complete compliance with these 
demands, she allowed her to recall her Ambassador 
and to declare war. 

3. By suggesting a localization of the war, she 
sought to create the appearance of mediating in the 
interests of peace; but that this proposal had no 
prospect of success must have been known to her 
from the history of diplomacy and from the recent 
evidence of the Balkan crisis; that as a matter of 
fact it was known to her is clear from the confes- 
sions contained in the White Book. 

4. She declined the proposal for a conference of 
the four Powers. 

5. She herself then advanced the proposal for 
direct discussions between Vienna and Petrograd, 
but at the same time she suffered Austria to de- 

239 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

cline to take part in these discussions, and instead 
to declare war against Serbia. 

6. She left unanswered the frequently repeated 
request of the other Powers that she should herself 
propose an alternative method of mediation in place 
of the proposal of a conference which she had de- 
clined. 

7. She left unanswered and undiscussed the vari- 
ous formulae for agreement proposed by Grey. 

8. In part she refused and in part she left un- 
answered the formulae of agreement proposed by 
Sazonoff. 

9. In spite of all inquiries, she never said what 
Austria wanted, but constantly restricted herself 
to saying what Austria did not want. 

10. She made to England a bid for neutrality, and 
thus announced her intention of making war, at a 
time when the Entente Powers were still zealously 
laboring in the interests of peace. 

11. When at last negotiations on the Serbian 
Note were opened, with a prospect of success, in 
Petrograd between Austria and Russia, she upset 
these negotiations by her ultimata to France and 
to Russia, and made war inevitable. 

12. In the ultimatum to Russia she demanded 
that demobilization should also be carried out as 
against Austria, although Austria herself had mo- 
bilized the whole of her forces. 

13. In place of the counter-mobilization which 
she had threatened to carry out, she at once declared 
war, without any ground, first on Russia and then 
on France. 

14. As an afterthought she based these declara- 

240 



REACTIONS AND PROTESTS 

tions of war on the fact that the Powers opposed 
to her had begun the war, whereas, on the contrary, 
the first acts of war were committed by Germany. 

15. She violated the neutrality of Belgium, and 
thus in addition brought about war with England. 

These points in the indictment are proved, and 
justify the judgment: Germany is guilty, along 
with Austria, of having brought about the Euro- 
pean war. 

"J'accuse," pp. 243-245. 

Responsibility of the German Government 

It is to you, Herr von Bethmann, that we owe 
all this. ... Go to the battlefields, go to the hos- 
pitals; see the wounded, the dead and the dying; 
go into the wasted cities and pray before the ruined 
altars, entreating your Saviour for forgiveness, that 
you, in place of the words, "Peace on earth, good- 
will to men," have brought about "Murder on 
earth, and for men fire and destruction." Then beat 
your breast and confess aloud and in public, so that 
all the world may hear it: "I am the guilty one, I 
alone !" This would not bring you righteousness, 
but it would be the first step toward it — the peni- 
tence which in itself is half-atonement. . . . 

The German nation has been corrupted and blind- 
ed, that it might be driven into a war which it has 
never foreseen, never intended, and never desired. 
In order that it might be "liberated," it has been put 
in chains. . . . 

History, which weighs guilt and innocence in its 
iron scales, will, I am firmly convinced, confirm the 

241 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

judgment which, with pain and shame, I as a Ger- 
man have been compelled to pass on Germans, in 
honor of truth and for the well-being of the German 
people. History also with letters of flame will in- 
scribe the verdict: Weighed in the balance and 
found wanting. 

"J'accuse," pp. 375, 421, 423. 



Testimony in favor of the Belgians 

The following letter from a German priest, dated Aix- 
la-Chapelle, Nov. 26, 1914, was sent to the "Kolnische 
Zeitung." It is cited in "J^ges par eux-memes," pp. 87-88. 

One of the most thankless tasks of the present 
time is to assert the truth against the absurd ru- 
mors circulating through the country. The "Volks- 
zeitung," Cologne, has already published, Septem- 
ber 30, 1914, a letter from me, in which I stated that 
after investigation I had not found in the thirty- 
five hospitals of Aix-la-Chapelle a single German 
soldier whose eyes had been put out. 

You have informed me, since, that my letter has 
not stopped this rumor-mongering. To show this, 
you have sent me an article published in the "Kol- 
nische Zeitung," October 31, which is quite adapted 
to revive belief in these fantastic stories. It is 
stated, in this "Kolnische Zeitung" article, that a 
physician named Ssethre had visited the Cologne 
hospitals. In the translation of his report is to be 
found the following passage: 

"There can be no doubt concerning the atrocities 
committed by the franc-tireurs. I myself have 
seen, in Aix-la-Chapelle, a Red Cross nurse, one of 

242 



REACTIONS AND PROTESTS 

whose breasts had been cut off by the franc-tireurs, 
and a squadron commander whose eyes had been 
put out while he was lying on the battlefield." 

You have asked me to write you what I thought 
of this report. Accordingly, I addressed inquiries 
to the proper authorities in order to find out 
whether the statements made by Dr. Sasthre were 
accurate. On November 25th, the director of the 
hospital wrote me as follows: 

"The atrocities you mention have not been com- 
mitted, at least, not so far as is known in Aix-la- 
Chapelle. We have not seen the Red Cross nurse 
in question, any more than the squadron com- 
mander." 

I do not know where the physician mentioned in 
the "Kolnische Zeitung" got his information. I 
believe it necessary to state here, for the second 
time, that the hospitals of Aix-la-Chapelle shelter 
no wounded men whose eyes have been put out nor 
any Red Cross nurse mutilated in the above-men- 
tioned manner. 

Fr. Kaufmann. 



A discouraged Dernburg 

Germany has few friends in the world. The senti- 
ment in South America is divided, and the actual 
neutrality of North America is doubtful. . . . We 
have not understood the psychology of the South 
Americans — and not of the South Americans 
alone. ... It is a mistake to say that merely envy 
and ill-will are to blame for this, for we ourselves 

243 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

have frequently insulted this psychology by our 
methods. 

Former Colonial Secretary Dernburg. Address deliv- 
ered at the organization meeting of the German Economic 
Union for South and Central America; reported in the 
"Berliner Tageblatt" (Sept. 3, 1915) ; cited in the "New 
York Times" (Sept. 24, 1915). 

We have with particular self- contentment trou- 
bled ourselves little as to what foreign countries 
thought of us. When we did what we thought 
right, then we were satisfied. What others thought 
of it left us indifferent. We have delighted our- 
selves in standing on guard in shining armor in 
Central Europe, and we have in a fateful hour set 
ourselves against the general tendencies of a world 
that desired peace. . . . 

Dernburg, Speech at Breslau, April 29, 1917; cited in 
the "New York Times" (May i, 1917). 

"A softened Harden"* 

Put the German house in such order that tomor- 
row it will be habitable and not an eyesore to the 
world. . . . 

Democracy is the word of the hour. A league of 
nations is on the way. Shall Germany freeze with- 
out, and in the era of coming peace shall militarism 
remain the root and branch of German political life? 

Maximilian Harden, in the "Zukunft," cited in the "New 
York Times" (May i, 1917). In consequence of further 
criticisms of German governmental policy, the "Zukunft" 
was suppressed, in July, 1917, and Harden was drafted 

*See above, pp. 79-80, 83-85. 
244 



REACTIONS AND PROTESTS 

into governmental service as a military clerk; see "New 
York Times" (July 12, 1917). 

Germany an obstacle to freedom 

The world has become quite another place 
through Russia's going over to democracy and the 
entry of the United States into the lists against us. 
Germany now stands against an alliance of world 
democracy, and the people of the world are per- 
suaded, and are daily becoming more convinced, 
that the triumph of freedom in the world is impos- 
sible as long as Germany remains what she is. 

The Munich "Post," cited by Wm. E. Walling in the 
New York "Tribune" (May 17, 1917). 



APPENDIX 
"SCRAPS OF PAPER" 

I. TREATIES BETWEEN PRUSSIA AND THE 
UNITED STATES 

Treaty of 1785 

Art. XII. — If one of the contracting parties 
should be engaged in war with any other Power, 
the free intercourse and commerce of the subjects 
or citizens of the party remaining neuter with the 
belligerent Powers shall not be interrupted. On 
the contrary, in that case, as in full peace, the ves- 
sels of the neutral party may navigate freely to 
and from the ports and on the coasts of the bel- 
ligerent parties, free vessels making free goods, in- 
somuch that all things shall be adjudged free which 
shall be on board any vessel belonging to the neu- 
tral party, although such things belong to an enemy 
of the other. . . . 

Treaty of 1799 

Art. XIII. — And in the same case of one of the 
contracting parties being engaged in war with any 
other Power, to prevent all the difficulties and mis- 
understandings that usually arise respecting mer- 
chandise of contraband, such as arms, ammunition, 

247 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

and military stores of every kind, no such articles 
carried in the vessels, or by the subjects or citizens 
of either part, to the enemies of the other, shall be 
deemed contraband, so as to induce confiscation or 
condemnation and a loss of property to individuals. 
Nevertheless, it shall be lawful to stop such ves- 
sels and articles, and to detain them for such length 
of time as the captors may think necessary to pre- 
vent the inconvenience or damage that might ensue 
from their proceeding, paying, however, a reason- 
able compensation for the loss such arrest shall 
occasion to the proprietors; and it shall further be 
allowed to use in the service of the captors the 
whole or any part of the military stores so detained, 
paying the owners the full value of the same, to be 
ascertained by the current price at the place of its 
destination. But in the case supposed of a vessel 
stopped for articles of contraband, if the master of 
the vessel stopped will deliver out the goods sup- 
posed to be of contraband nature, he shall be ad- 
mitted to do it, and the vessel shall not in that 
case be carried into any port, nor further detained, 
but shall be allowed to proceed on her voyage. . . . 

Treaty of 1828 

Art. XII. — The twelfth article of the treaty of 
amity and commerce, concluded between the parties 
in 1785, and the articles from the thirteenth to the 
twenty-fourth, inclusive, of that which was con- 
cluded at Berlin in 1799 . . . are hereby revived 
with the same force and virtue as if they made part 
of the context of the present treaty. . . . 

248 



"SCRAPS OF PAPER" 

II. TREATIES NEUTRALIZING BELGIUM 
AND LUXEMBURG 

Treaty of London, November 15, 1831 

Art. VII. — Belgium, within the limits indicated in 
Articles I and II, Sec. 4, will form an independent 
and perpetually neutral State. It will be required 
to observe this same neutrality toward all other 
States. 

Art. XXV. — The Courts of Austria, France, Great 
Britain, Prussia and Russia guarantee to his Majes- 
ty the King of the Belgians the execution of all 
the preceding articles. 

The engagements contained in this treaty were renewed 
by that of 1839, which definitely established the status 
of Belgium and recognized that all the articles of the 
treaty of 183 1 were placed under the guaranty of the 
five Powers. 

Treaty of London, May 11, 1867 

Art. II. — The Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, with- 
in the limits determined by the act annexed to the 
treaty of April 19, 1839, under the guaranty of the 
courts of France, Austria, Great Britain, Prussia 
and Russia, will henceforth form a perpetually neu- 
tral State. It will be required to observe this same 
neutrality toward all other States. The high con- 
tracting parties bind themselves to respect the prin- 
ciple of neutrality stipulated by the present article. 
The latter is and continues to be placed under the 
sanction of the collective guaranty of the Powers 

249 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

who are signatories to the present treaty, with the 
exception of Belgium, which is itself a neutral 
State. 

III. CONVENTIONS RESPECTING WAR ON LAND 



The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 * 

His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prus- 
sia (etc.) : 

Seeing that, while seeking means to preserve 
peace and prevent armed conflicts between nations, 
it is likewise necessary to bear in mind the case 
where the appeal to arms has been brought about 
by events which their care was unable to avert; 

Animated by the desire to serve, even in this ex- 
treme case, the interests of humanity and the ever 
progressive needs of civilization; 

Thinking it important, with this object, to re- 
vise the general laws and customs of war, either 
with a view to defining them with greater precision 
or to confining them within such limits as would 
mitigate their severity as far as possible; 

Have deemed it necessary to complete and ex- 
plain in certain particulars the work of the First 
Peace Conference, which, following on the Brussels 
Conference of 1874, and inspired by the ideas dic- 
tated by a wise and generous forethought, adopted 
provisions intended to define and govern the usages 
of war on land. . . . 

Art. I. — The contracting Powers shall issue in- 
structions to their armed land forces, which shall 

* Except where otherwise indicated, the text cited is that 
of 1907. 

250 



"SCRAPS OF PAPER" 

be in conformity with the Regulations respecting 
the laws and customs of war on land annexed to 
the present Convention. 

Art. III. — A belligerent party which violates the 
provisions of the said Regulations shall, if the case 
demands, be liable to pay compensation. 

It shall be responsible for all acts committed by 
persons forming part of its armed forces. 



Regulations respecting the Laws and Customs of 
War on Land 

Art. I. — The laws, rights and duties of war apply 
not only to armies, but also to militia and volunteer 
corps, fulfilling the following conditions : 

1. To be commanded by a person responsible for 
his subordinates; 

2. To have a fixed distinctive emblem recogniza- 
ble at a distance; 

3. To carry arms openly; and 

4. To conduct their operations in accordance 
with the laws and customs of war. 

In countries where militia or volunteer corps 
constitute the army, or form part of it, they are 
included under the denomination "army." 

Art. 2. — The inhabitants of a territory which has 
not been occupied, who, on the approach of the 
enemy, spontaneously take up arms to resist the 
invading troops without having time to organize 
themselves in accordance with Article i, shall be 
regarded as belligerents if they carry arms openly 
and if they respect the laws and customs of war. 

Art. 3. — The armed forces of the belligerent par- 
251 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

ties may consist of combatants and non-combatants. 
In the case of capture by the enemy, both have a 
right to be treated as prisoners of war. 

Art. 4. — Prisoners of war are in the power of the 
hostile Government, but not of the individuals or 
corps who capture them. 

They must be humanely treated. 

All their personal belongings, except arms, 
horses, and military papers, remain their property. 

Art. 7. — The Government into whose hands pris- 
oners of war have fallen is charged with their main- 
tenance. 

In the absence of a special agreement between 
the belligerents, prisoners of war shall be treated 
as regards board, lodging, and clothing on the same 
footing as the troops of the Government who cap- 
tured them. 

Art. 22. — The right of belligerents to adopt means 
of injuring the enemy is not unlimited. 

Art. 23. — In addition to the prohibitions provided 
by special Conventions, it is especially forbidden: 

a. To employ poison or poisoned weapons ; 

c. To kill or wound an enemy who, having laid 
down his arms, or having no longer means of de- 
fense, has surrendered at discretion; 

d. To declare that no quarter will be given : 

e. To employ arms, projectiles, or material cal- 
culated to cause unnecessary suffering; 

/. To make improper use of a flag of truce, of 
the national flag or of the military insignia and 
uniform of the enemy, as well as the distinctive 
badges of the Geneva Convention. 

g. To destroy or seize the enemy's property, un- 
252 



''SCRAPS OF PAPER" 

less such destruction or seizure be imperatively de- 
manded by the necessities of war. 

h. A belligerent is likewise forbidden to compel 
the nationals of the hostile party to take part in 
the operations of war directed against their own 
country, even if they were in the belligerent's serv- 
ice before the commencement of the war. 

Art. 25. — The attack or bombardment, by what- 
ever means, of towns, villages, dwellings, or build- 
ings which are undefended is prohibited. 

Art. 26. — The officer in command of an attacking 
force must, before commencing a bombardment, 
except in cases of assault, do all in his power to 
warn the authorities. 

Art. 27. — In sieges and bombardments all neces- 
sary steps must be taken to spare, as far as possi- 
ble, buildings dedicated to religion, art, science, or 
charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals, 
and places where the sick and wounded are col- 
lected, provided they are not being used at the 
same time for military purposes. . . . 

Art. 28. — The pillage of a town or place, even 
when taken by assault, is prohibited. 

Art. 44. — Any compulsion of the population of 
occupied territory to take part in military opera- 
tions against its own country is prohibited.* 

Art. 45. — It is forbidden to compel the inhab- 
itants of occupied territory to swear allegiance to 
the hostile Power. 

Art. 46. — Family honor and rights, the lives of 

* Text of 1899. Germany refused to ratify a modified 
text adopted in 1907. 

253 



OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS 

persons, and private property, as well as religious 
convictions and practice, must be respected. 

Private property cannot be confiscated. 

Art. 47. — Pillage is formally forbidden. 

Art. 50. — No general penalty, pecuniary or other- 
wise, shall be inflicted upon the population on ac- 
count of the acts of individuals for which they can- 
not be regarded as jointly and severally responsible. 

Art. 52. — Requisitions in kind and services shall 
not be demanded from municipalities or inhabitants 
except for the needs of the army of occupation. 
They shall be in proportion to the resources of the 
country, and of such a nature as not to involve the 
inhabitants in the obligation of taking part in mili- 
tary operations against their own country. 

Such requisitions and services shall only be de- 
manded on the authority of the commander in the 
locality occupied. 

Contributions in kind shall, as far as possible, be 
paid for in cash ; if not, a receipt shall be given and 
the payment of the amount due shall be made as 
soon as possible. 

Art. 53. — An army of occupation can only take 
possession of cash, funds, and realizable securities 
which are strictly the property of the State, depots 
of arms, means of transport, stores and supplies, 
and, generally, all movable property belonging to 
the State which may be used for military opera- 
tions. 

Art. 56. — The property of municipalities, that of 
institutions dedicated to religion, charity and ed- 
ucation, to the arts and sciences, even when State 
property, shall be treated as private property. 

254 



"SCRAPS OF PAPER" 

All seizure of, destruction or willful damage done 
to institutions of this character, historical monu- 
ments, works of art and science, is forbidden, and 
should be made the subject of legal proceedings. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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